The Texas Equal Rights Amendment and The Family Code: Litigation Ahead

Examines the relationship of certain provisions of the new Texas Family Code to the requirements of the Equal rights Amendment of the Texas Constitution (TERA). The clash between these two legal standards, the author suggests, will result in costly litigation. Specifically, Title 1 of the new Texas Family Code retains such unconstitutional sex-based classifications as to guarantee future litigation. The author briefly highlights some of the constitutional defects which remain in the newly amended Title I of the Texas Family Code in light of TERA, and the author concludes that resolution of these issues is a legislative function, but warns that the judiciary will likely face a high volume of litigation over easily avoidable issues prevalent in the new law and TERA.