Note:
Reagan W. Simpson, A New Look at the Texas Equal Rights Amendment, 55 TEXAS L. REV. 323 (1976).
 

Abstract:
This note examines the eleven legal disputes in which the Texas Equal Rights Amendment (TERA) has been given judicial consideration since its passage in 1972, especially the more noteworthy decisions of two appellate judges, who articulated an analytical framework for deciding equal rights issues. The note examines these two decisions and suggests another construction for the equal rights amendment: a three tiered approach that (1) limits the applicability of the equal rights provision to those classifications that presume the inferiority of one sex to the other, leaving the remainder of sexually discriminatory laws to be tested by the rational relationship test, (2) labels classifications that deny individuals the opportunity to escape stigmatization as per se violations of TERA, and (3) balances the competing interests involved when considering less offensive sex-based discrimination, which often benefits both men and women.