The Evening Brief: June 26, 2013

New in The Texas Tribune

•    Perry Calls Second Special Session: "Hours after Democrats won a rare victory by blocking a restrictive abortion bill, Republican Gov. Rick Perry has called a second special session to take up the issue again. Perry also put transportation funding and a juvenile justice measure on the agenda for the session, which is set to begin July 1."

•    Filibuster Launches Davis Onto National Stage: "State Sen. Wendy Davis has held the Texas spotlight before. But Tuesday night’s marathon abortion filibuster propelled her into the national spotlight. By the time the Senate unsuccessfully forced the vote on some of the nation’s strictest abortion regulations, the 13 hours Davis had spent on her feet challenging the measure had gone viral, drawing praise on social media from President Obama, U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and celebrities like author Judy Blume and actors Lena Dunham and Henry Winkler."

•    For Dewhurst, a Critical Failure With a Large Audience: "David Dewhurst’s dream ended like a fairy tale: The clock struck 12 and the lieutenant governor’s bid for conservative redemption came to pieces. Tuesday might have been his worst political day ever, adding speed to the political tailspin that began a year ago when he was upset by fellow Republican Ted Cruz in the race for U.S. Senate."

•    Davis Gets the Taiwanese Animation Treatment: "Nobody does the news quite like Taiwan-based Next Media Animation, whose latest storyline is Fort Worth Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis' filibuster of a bill that would have added restrictions on abortion."

Culled

•    Texas Republicans belatedly chide Supreme Court on same-sex marriage; Democrats cheer landmark rulings (Houston Chronicle): "For more than two and a half hours, there was an eerie silence from Texas Republicans on the issue of same-sex marriage. The party of 'traditional family values' watched and waited as Democrats cheered the Supreme Court’s decisions striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8."

•    What does Wendy Davis mean for the larger abortion debate? (The Washington Post): "Between the trial of Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell and the passage last week of aHouse bill banning abortion after 20 weeks, the abortion debate was already pretty intense. But Wendy Davis’ successful filibuster of a controversial Texas measure Tuesday has upended the political calculus on this issue yet again, electrifying abortion-rights activists and elevating what had been a state-level fight to a national battle."

•    Wendy Davis would still face uphill fight in Texas (Politico): "Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis rocketed to national attention Tuesday night as she staged an eleventh-hour filibuster against a bill on new abortion restrictions, but the Democrat would still face an uphill battle in a run for statewide office that a new cadre of supporters are hoping to see."

•    Time of vote mysteriously changes, but doesn’t affect abortion bill (The Dallas Morning News): "Chaos quickly followed the Senate vote on the abortion bill. The legislative deadline was midnight. Did the vote happen before and the bill passed? Or did it happen after midnight and the bill died? Looking for answers, people in the Senate chamber turned to the Texas Legislature Online record of the vote. But quickly found contradicting information."

•    Congressman files suit to stop Texas voter ID law (The Associated Press): "A Democratic congressman has joined seven others in filing a federal lawsuit to keep Texas from enforcing its voter ID law. U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey of Fort Worth filed the papers Wednesday in Corpus Christi, calling the requirement to show a state-issued photo ID card at the ballot box unconstitutional."

•    Sen. John Cornyn calls belatedly disclosed income an "oversight" (The Dallas Morning News): "Sen. John Cornyn today called his failure to disclose pension payments for several years a simple 'oversight.' Last July, Cornyn filed amended forms for 2006 to 2010 to note that he had collected $10,132 each of those years from the Employees Retirement System of Texas — the pension he earned as attorney general. In January, fresh amendments disclosed that he also owned land in San Antonio valued between $50,000 and $100,000; as of last month the land was valued at $100,000 to $250,000."