Jeez, I’d forgotten this was still a thing.
In a lawsuit filed after the election, three Houston property owners allege the ballot language was misleading.
“You would have thought if you voted for this thing that it was a one-time, one-year tax,” said Andy Taylor, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, “when in fact it is a permanent tax forever in an amount that is literally hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars over time.”
A spokesperson for the city of Houston did not respond to requests for comment.
Both the trial court and the appeals court sided with the city, saying it wasn’t required to lay out specifics of the measure on the ballot.
The last update on this was in July of 2012, so you can see why it had slipped my mind. I don’t know why the Supremes would see this any differently than the district court or the 14th Court of Appeals, but you can never be too sure. Oral arguments are scheduled for February 24. Lord only knows how long it will take for a decision after that.
(And yes, that’s the same Andy Taylor that is litigating on behalf of the HERO haters. All lawyers wind up representing unsavory characters from time to time. Andy Taylor seeks them out.)
The named plaintiffs in the case are Allen Mark Dacus, a Republican voter in Timbergrove and son-in-law of pro-immigration and anti-abortion activist Norman Adams; former city council candidate and GOP precinct chair Elizabeth Perez, and Rev. Robert Jefferson. A person of the same name as Rev. Jefferson, the founding minister at Cullen Missionary Baptist Church, passed away a few days ago. I don’t know if this is the same person. RIP.