1866 Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 State law Article I (the Texas Bill of Rights), Section 13 of the Texas Constitution, adopted February 15, 1876 – Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel or unusual punishment inflicted. All courts shall be open, and every person for an injury done him in his lands, goods, person or reputation shall have remedy by due course of law. (link) Attempted and pending anti-lynching Federal legislation 1918: The Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, named for Leonidas C. Dyer who introduced it in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1918, failed. 2018: The Justice for Victims of Lynching Act, passed the by the U.S. Senate unanimously December 19, 2018, but failed passage by the House before the 115th Congress ended on January 3, 2019. 2020: The Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which would make lynching a federal hate crime, was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives February 26, 2020. The vote was 410 to 4. U.S. Representative Louie Gohmert—born and raised in Camp County, resident of Tyler, and whose congressional district includes Tyler—was one of the four who voted against the Act. Gohmert cited his preference for the death penalty under Texas law, under which two convicted white supremacists were executed for the 1998 murder of James Byrd, Jr., in Jasper, Texas. In a criticism of Gohmert's vote, former Tyler City Councilman Pastor Ralph Edward Caraway said, "After over 400 lynchings in Texas from 1885 to 1942, we should be at the point where lynching is universally condemned in our society." Gohmert has served as Assistant District Attorney for Titus, Morris, and Camp Counties, Texas. Herman Arthur was born in Pittsburg, Texas (Camp County). The Scott Arthur family, including stepsons Herman and Ervie, lived in Camp County in 1900—–and in Titus County in 1910. A son-in-law of Scott Arthur, Hardy Turner (born 1875), was born in Morris County. As for Gohmert's advocacy of the death penalty, sociologists James Walter Marquart, PhD, Jonathan Roger Sorensen, PhD, and Sheldon Ekland-Olson, PhD, in their 1993 book, The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923–1990, lay out a history of racist vagaries in the East Texas region's vigorous support for capital punishment throughout the 20th century. Bibliography Annotations Notes References News media (; ) Books, journals, magazines, and papers – Total pages: 270 Teague,