Some rare good news for the rule of law:

Texas Gov. Rick Perry Wednesday called for a second special session of the Texas Legislature to reconsider an abortion bill that failed following a filibuster — cancelling the small victory the bill’s opponents thought they had won following a marathon filibuster by a state senator Tuesday night.

The new special session will start July 1 at 2 p.m. and will run for no more than 30 days.

“I am calling the Legislature back into session because too much important work remains undone for the people of Texas,” Perry said in a statement. “Through their duly elected representatives, the citizens of our state have made crystal clear their priorities for our great state. Texans value life and want to protect women and the unborn.”

Mob rule will not win the day.

Well done, Governor.

UPDATE: Here’s how the always hackish L.A. Times portrays last night’s events:

There was a vote held, and the bill passed 19-10, but due to chaos in the chamber by a mob of Democrats, the bill was not signed.

That is portrayed as Davis and her allies “defeating” the bill.

They’re liars at the L.A. Times. That’s all they are, folks. Just liars.

For now, consider this your open thread.

UPDATE: I’ll be updating now from the ScotusBlog.com live chat coverage. First opinion is DOMA.

UPDATE: DOMA struck down 5-4. Kennedy writes the opinion. Not a big shock. Kennedy finds it to be Equal Protection violation.

UPDATE: Opinion confined to “lawful marriages” — possibly a signal that Prop. 8 will be upheld.

UPDATE: Link to the DOMA opinion (.pdf).

UPDATE: A “careful consideration” standard for unusual classifications. Classic Kennedy. My eyes are rolling hard.

UPDATE: Quote from SCOTUSBlog re Scalia reading his dissent: “The Court’s opinion both in explaining its jurisdiction and its decision ‘both spring from the same diseased root: an exalted notion of the role of this court in American democratic society.'” Classic Scalia.

UPDATE: SCOTUSBlog says there is a suggestion in Roberts’s dissent in DOMA that Prop. 8 will be dealt with on standing grounds.

UPDATE: It’s starting to look like Prop. 8 will go down on a narrow ruling dealing with standing. No wonder Alito was glowering at Kagan the other day.

UPDATE: Proposition 8 struck down (in essence) due to lack of standing on the part of the appellants. Weird majority: Scalia, Roberts, Ginsburg, Breyer, Kagan.

UPDATE: Have not read the ruling but I get the sense Scalia was worried about what Kennedy would do unleashed.

UPDATE: Kagan in majority, not Sotomayor.

Disgusting:

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Despite barely beating a midnight deadline, hundreds of jeering protesters helped stop Texas lawmakers from passing one of the toughest abortion measures in the country.

As the protesters raised the noise to deafening levels in the Texas Senate chamber late Tuesday, Republicans scrambled to gather their colleagues at the podium for a stroke-of-midnight vote.

“Get them out!” Sen. Donna Campbell shouted to a security guard, pointing to the thundering crowd in the gallery overhead that had already been screaming for more than 10 minutes.

“Time is running out,” Campbell pleaded. “I want them out of here!”

It didn’t work. The noise never stopped and despite barely beating the midnight end-of-session deadline with a vote to pass the bill, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said the chaos in the chamber prevented him from formally signing it before the deadline passed, effectively killing it.

Here is a video of law enforcement trying to clear the gallery:

This is the kind of thing that causes good citizens to throw up their hands and lose faith in the system. The mob’s actions came after a filibuster of the bill by Wendy Davis of Fort Worth, who was supported in her efforts by Barack Obama’s Twitter account:

Something special is happening in Austin tonight: http://t.co/RpbnCbO6zw #StandWithWendy

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 26, 2013

I want someone to ask Barack Obama whether he supports the bill being shouted down by a mob.

Gov. Perry should call another legislative session.