U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, No. 1:23-CV-551-RP

Portée v. Morath (W.D. Tex.)

Status: Closed: final judgment for the plaintiff

Background

Hannah Magee Portée, the spouse of an Air Force officer, moved to Texas on military orders holding school counselor licenses from Ohio and Missouri. Texas education officials declined to recognize those licenses because she had not used them continuously for the two years before the move.

Brandon J. Grable represented Ms. Portée. He handled the matter while at Grable Grimshaw PLLC.

The Issue

This was a federal suit under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, as amended by the Military Spouse Licensing Relief Act, which added the license-portability provision at 50 U.S.C. § 4025a in January 2023. The question was whether that provision required Texas to honor the out-of-state licenses, and what the statute means when it requires that a license have been actively used during the two years before relocation.

Status/Outcome

The United States filed a Statement of Interest supporting Ms. Portée on July 13, 2023, and the court granted a preliminary injunction on July 21, 2023.

On November 20, 2023, the court granted judgment on the pleadings. It declared that the Texas Education Agency and the other defendants violated federal law in handling Ms. Portée’s application by requiring continuous use of her licenses, held that the statute requires use at some point during the two years before relocation, and permanently enjoined them from enforcing that licensing requirement against her. The U.S. Department of Justice describes it as the first case brought nationwide under the new provision.

Key Filings

• U.S. Department of Justice case page
• Statement of Interest of the United States (July 13, 2023, PDF)
• Order (Nov. 20, 2023, PDF)
• Military Times coverage (Nov. 20, 2023)
• Stars and Stripes op-ed by Jon Riches and Brandon Grable (Dec. 7, 2023)

Last updated: Oct 14, 2026

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