Texas plans to secede ???

Texas Independence Plan Suffers Major Blow    Story by James Bickerton •7hrs ago Newsweek

Stock photo showing the Texas state flag is seen during the game between the Baylor Bears and the Texas Longhorns at McLane Stadium on September 23, 2023 in Waco, Texas. The Texas Supreme Court has rejected a case filed by Texan nationalists after their independence petition was turned down by the state Republican Party.
© Tim Warner/GETTY

The Texas Supreme Court has refused to take up a case filed against the state Republican Party after it rejected a petition calling for a vote on Texas independence to be included on its March primary ballot.

The case was brought by the Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM), a group campaigning for the state to leave the United States and become a fully independent country. On Wednesday, the TNM's petition, with 139,456 signatures, was denied outright, sparking an angry response from secessionist campaigners.

Texan nationalists have received a number of major boosts over the past few years, with the Texas GOP backing calls for a referendum on whether the state "should reassert its status as an independent nation" at its June 2022 convention.

Texas state Representative Bryan Slaton introduced legislation in March 2023 that would have triggered a referendum on "whether or not the State should investigate the possibility of Texas independence," though it failed to move past the committee stage.

Last month, TNM President Daniel Miller delivered a petition calling for a "TEXIT" referendum to the state GOP headquarters in Austin, well over the 97,709 signatures required to get a vote added to the primary ballot.

Texas Republican Party Chair Matt Rinaldi rejected the petition, claiming "the vast majority of petition signatures were invalid." He said some were missing essential information such as "residence address, county of registration, and date of birth/voter registration number." Other names were invalid, while only 8,300 of the signatures had been submitted by hand, rather than electronically, which Rinaldi claimed was a requirement. The Texas GOP also said the delivery of the petition was "untimely," with it being received on the deadline, as opposed to the day before.

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