Comparing Texas And US Constitutions

Both the Texas and US Constitutions are documents that represent the freedom and equal opportunity the citizens under these documents have. Although these Constitutions have the same message of freedom both are different in structure of the constitutions, powers held in the executive branch, structure of the supreme court and the amendment process.
The first recognizable difference between the constitutions is structure and length. The Texas constitution consists of seventeen articles while the US constitution only has seven articles. However, parts of the Texas constitution were removed or repealed. These repeals happen in 1969 the article thirteen of the Texas Constitution under the title of Spanish and Mexican Land Titles, and sections

from article 10, 12, and 14 were repealed. Both constitutions have Bill of Rights however while the US Bill of Rights is attached at the end of the constitution, Texas’s Bill of Rights is article one of their constitution. The Texas Bill of Rights covers rights already stated in the US Constitution but also gives Texas citizens’ rights that are not specifically stated in the US Constitution. An example is protection from discriminating base on sex.
The Texas constitution holds the executive branch as being plural meaning all members are elected by the people.

The United States has a unitary executive branch meaning members in the executive branch are chosen by the president who is the only one who is elected by the people. This does not mean the Texas governor has no appointment powers. The president appoints powers is only greater then the governor’s being able to appoint the fifteen members of the president cabinet and supreme court justices. The Texas governor can appoint members of the executive branch and judicial branch but only when there is a sudden vacancy to the spot and someone is needed until the next election. Both the governor and president have four-year terms, but the Texas governor has an unlimited number of terms they can serve if they are voted majority and the governor doesn’t resign. The president can only serve two four-year terms that can be consecutive or nonconsecutive. The Texas governor operates like the US president handling foreign affairs, budget handled by legislative and passing or vetoing bills passed by legislative. The governor and president are commanders-in-chief of a respected armed organization. The president has power over the US army and navy

while the governor has power over the state militia. The state militia consists of two groups the Texas National Guard and the Texas State Guard.

The message power gives both the governor and president power to give a speech to address legislative agenda. In federal government this speech is called the State of the Union Address while in Texas it is called the State of the State address. The Lieutenant Governor in the Texas Constitution holds powers like the Vice President of the United States. Both hold the power of the governor or president when that person is absent and are the heads of their respect senate chambers. However, the Lieutenant Governor has more power as Head of the Senate then the Vice President. Through history the Vice President has had little importance besides breaking ties. The Vice President is mostly not involved in the Senate instead the Senate appoints a head called the president of the senate pro tempore who is more involved in Senate then the Vice President. The Vice President is a part of the National Security Council however the lieutenant governor is a part of more committees and councils that gives the lieutenant governor more influence in the Texas government. The Lieutenant governor is a part of the Legislative Budget Board, Legislative Council, and Legislative Audit Committee. The Lieutenant

Governor also has influence in the Sunset Advisory Commission the commission that reviews departments under the executive branch. Boards, Commissions, and Committees of the government in both the state and federal level are under the executive branch. These organizations are appointed, created, and reviewed by the executive branch. The roles of the other members of the executive branch in both governments are different. The other members of the US executive branch are known as the president cabinet. Because the US president oversees the executive branch, the president cabinet are advisors to the president. The US constitution makes no clear statement about the president cabinet only saying, the president "require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments.” This has allowed the president’s cabinet to expand in number from its beginning. The president cabinet consists of fifteen members for each of the departments. The other members of the Texas executive branch work independently of the governor taking administrative power of parts of the government. For example, the commissioner of agriculture handles all laws and activities involving agriculture.
Both Texas and the United States Constitutions have Supreme Courts as the highest court in their judicial system. Texas’s Supreme Court is split into two courts one simply called the Supreme Court that deals with civil cases and another called the Court of Criminal Appeals that deals with criminal cases. The United States Supreme Court deals with both civil and criminal cases. The requirements to be a justice of these courts and their elections are completely different. In Texas, to be a justice in the Court of Criminal Appeals must be at least thirty-five years old with at least ten years of experience as a lawyer or judge. To be a justice in the Supreme Court in Texas a person must be at least be thirty-five with ten years of experience and a citizen of the US and resident of Texas. At the US Supreme Court there is no written requirement to be a justice. This is because the president appoints the justice however as a check the president must have approval of the senate, so the president is influenced to pick someone qualified to be a Supreme Court Justice. So, at the US Supreme Court there is no election of the justice however in Texas there is. In Texas justices are elected by the people for six-year terms with no limit on the number of terms that the justices can serve. In the United States once justices take office they have no reelection. The justices stay in office for life till they are impeached or resign.
Both the state government and federal government have a process of amending their constitutions. First in both the Texas and the US the proposed amendment is accepted by two thirds in house and the senate. Or in the United States a convention of the states called by Congress adopts an amendment although this process has never been used. From here the ratification for an amendment in the Texas and United States Constitution is different. In Texas the amendment is placed on ballots for voters to vote on. If the amendment gets majority vote the amendment becomes a part of Texas’s constitution. In the United States once an amendment passes the house and senate, the amendment must be ratified by three quarters of state legislative or state amendment conventions. The US has ratified twenty-seven amendments while Texas has four hundred and ninety-one amendments. This is because in Texas amendments to the constitution are proposed more often then at the US level.
In conclusion, both the Texas constitution and US Constitution are similar in structure between them, having an executive branch, Supreme Courts and an amending process. However, the powers and how these departments and processes work are different.