Article IV, Section 10 of the Texas Constitution (" ... ")
Adopted February 15, 1876:
He shall cause the laws to be faithfully executed; and shall conduct, in person, or in such manner as shall be prescribed by law, all intercourse and business of the State with other States and with the United States.
Editor Comments
In a 2010 law review article analyzing the Governor's authority to direct state agency action, a Baylor law professor persuasively concludes:
Absent amending the Texas Constitution to vest the Governor with absolute control, which many would not be willing to do, Texas government has the ability to act in a more unified, efficient, and open manner, if the Governor exercises the power to direct in a public forum by the use of executive orders which will thereby force our Governor and his or her unelected technocrats to be subject to ongoing public and legislative scrutiny. By realizing and recognizing the power vested in the office of the Governor of the State of Texas, the election will no longer be one of a beauty pageant. The election will be a serious choice of the leader of the executive branch and his or her policies, power of administration, and selection or retention of appointed state officers. The cloud of the Reconstruction Period should be blown away by the winds of the actual wording and meaning of our Texas Constitution.
Ron Beal, Power of the Governor: Did the Court Unconstitutionally Tell the Governor to Shut Up, 62 Baylor L. Rev. 72, 109 (2010).
Recent Decisions
None.
Historic Decisions
- Hibler v. State, 43 Tex. 197, 203-04 (1875) ("This provision of the Constitution of the United States, requiring the surrender of fugitives from justice, is in the nature of a treaty stipulation between the States of the Union, and it is equally binding upon each State and all of the officers thereof . . . . When its execution is put into active operation by the proper authority of this State, the Governor, based upon the authentic information and demand as required by law, it is equally obligatory upon all of the officers of this State as is the enforcement of any criminal proceeding under the constitution and laws of this State.")
- Houston Tap & B. Ry. Co. v. Randolph, 24 Tex. 317, 343 (1859) ("One other feature in this case, will be adverted to. The governor has manifested his wish, that this act should be performed, by joining with the attorney-general in signing the warrant. He is the head of the executive department of the State, and it is made his duty, by the Constitution, to 'take care that the laws be faithfully executed.' It is evidently contemplated, that he shall give direction to the management of affairs, in all the branches of the executive department. Otherwise he has very little to do.")
- State v. Delesdenier, 7 Tex. 76, 95 (1851) ("It might, with much propriety, be said that it is the duty of the Executive of the State, under that provision of the Constitution which declares that 'he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed,' (art. 5, sec. 10,) to cause legal proceedings to be instituted by the proper law officers in all cases when the laws of the State are infracted or its rights invaded. But it would be a great neglect of duty on the part of the attorney general not to institute such proceedings when the opinion of the Legislature and Executive Departments as to its necessity has been clearly expressed.")
Library Resources
- Vernon's Annotated Constitution of the State of Texas (this multi-volume and up-to-date resource is available at all law libraries and many municipal libraries)
- The Texas State Constitution: A Reference Guide (this one-volume resource is available at most law libraries and some municipal libraries)
- The Constitution of the State of Texas: An Annotated and Comparative Analysis (this two-volume resource is available at most law libraries and some municipal libraries)
Online Resources
- Constitution of the State of Texas (1876) (this resource is published and maintained by the University of Texas School of Law)
- Amendments to the Texas Constitution Since 1876 (this resource is published and regularly updated by the Legislative Council)
- Reports Analyzing Proposed Amendments (this resource is published and regularly updated by the Legislative Reference Library)