Article V, Section 3-b of the Texas Constitution ("Direct Appeal from Order Granting or Denying Injunction")
Added November 5, 1940:
The Legislature shall have the power to provide by law, for an appeal direct to the Supreme Court of this State from an order of any trial court granting or denying an interlocutory or permanent injunction on the grounds [sic] of the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of any statute of this State, or on the validity or invalidity of any administrative order issued by any state agency under any statute of this State.
Editor Comments
Article V, Section 3, which defines the Supreme Court's jurisdiction, was substantively revised in 1980.
Among other changes, the language governing the Supreme Court's appellate jurisdiction was modified.
This section, an exception to the Supreme Court's former appellate jurisdiction, is no longer necessary.
Recent Decisions
- Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth v. Episcopal Church, 422 S.W.3d 646, 654 (Tex. 2013) (J. Willett, dissenting) ("Until 1940, when Texans amended their constitution, the Supreme Court of Texas lacked any authority to decide direct appeals (i.e., appeals that leapfrog the court of appeals and pass directly to this Court). Four years later, the Legislature first exercised its new power to permit direct appeals, and in the sixty-nine years since, this Court has exercised that jurisdiction sparingly, only forty-three times. . . . Today's direct appeal is directly unappealable. The trial court's order nowhere mentions any constitution or statute, much less the constitutionality of a statute.")
Historic Decisions
- Boston v. Garrison, 256 S.W.2d 67, 69 (Tex. 1953) ("The statute, Article 1738a, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, enacted pursuant to the amendment of the Constitution, uses substantially the same language as that of the amendment, and Rule 499-a adopted by the Supreme Court follows rather closely . . . . Direct appeal to the Supreme Court is not authorized by the Constitution, the statute, or the rule, from orders granting or denying mandamus. In our opinion the order or judgment of the District Court from which the appeal was taken herein was not an order denying an interlocutory or a permanent injunction, but was an order or judgment denying or refusing mandamus.")
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)