Officials in Harris County voted yesterday to give Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee broad authority to take legal action against the Trump administration at taxpayer expense.
By a vote of 3-1, the Harris County Commissioners Court approved a motion authorizing Menefee “to initiate any legal action, intervene in existing litigation, file amicus briefing, and file public comments as relevant in connection with any executive order or regulation issued by the executive branch of the federal government that could impact Harris County and its residents for a period of six months.”
Tom Ramsey, the lone Republican on Harris County Commissioners Court, cast the dissenting vote. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo was not present for the vote.
Last week, Menefee and Harris County Commissioner Adrian Garcia signed on to an amicus brief filed in a lawsuit challenging an executive order signed by President Trump to limit birthright citizenship.
Menefee, who was given a speaking role at the Texas Democratic Party state convention last year and is viewed by some as a rising star within Texas Democratic politics, has signaled that he wants to use his office as Harris County Attorney and the authority given to him by Harris County Commissioners Court to impede the Trump administration’s agenda.
“President Trump thinks he can undermine our democratic institutions and go unchecked. We’re not going to let that happen. Next week, I’m joining [The Houston Chronicle] to discuss how we’re preparing to protect Harris County from these attacks, my second term, and our office’s important work across the county,” said Menefee in an Instagram post yesterday.
The largest donor to Menefee’s campaign last year was the radical Texas Organizing Project PAC, which gave him over $200,000 in the form of in-kind contributions. Some of the most notable donors to the Texas Organizing Project PAC last year included George Soros and Rachel Gelman, a California heiress who advocates for the abolition of prisons and describes herself as an “anticapitalist.”
The non-profit arm of the Texas Organizing Project currently has a job posting for a “community organizer” in Harris County to “effectively organize to win campaigns around racial and economic justice that begin to dismantle racial capitalism.”
The Texas Organizing Project is also critical of conservative policies to combat illegal immigration, stating, “we are fighting the deportation machine that is needlessly ripping apart our families.”
The Houston Communist Party has promoted the Texas Organizing Project’s work on immigration issues.
