AUSTIN — State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-McKinney, says he plans to introduce legislation next year that would make people convicted of raping a child eligible for the death penalty, setting up a direct challenge to existing U.S. Supreme Court precedent. Leach, chair of the Texas House Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence, announced the plan Sept. 18 at a news conference in support of abuse survivor Cindy Clemishire. He said lawmakers would debate the proposal when the Legislature reconvenes in January. “We’re going to have a debate in this building behind me about the death penalty being on the table for any Texan who rapes a child,” Leach said. “I’m filing that legislation.” Under a 2008 Supreme Court decision, states may not execute a person for raping a child when the victim survives. The 5-4 ruling, Kennedy v. Louisiana, overturned a death sentence imposed on Patrick Kennedy for raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter. Tom Hogan, a professor at South Texas College of Law, said the Supreme Court relied in part on the lack of a national consensus supporting the punishment. At the time, only six states retained death-penalty laws for rape, he said. The decision has continued to draw criticism from some lawmakers and legal scholars. Three current justices — Samuel Alito, John Roberts and Clarence Thomas — dissented from the ruling. Hogan said the court’s current conservative majority could eventually revisit the constitutional question, particularly if a state carries out Leach’s proposed approach and a resulting case reaches the court. Several states have passed laws designed to challenge the precedent, beginning with Florida in 2023. But such a law would not immediately result in an execution. Texas would first need to approve the legislation, secure a conviction and death sentence under it, and then see the case move through state and federal appeals. That process could take years. Victim-advocacy organizations have raised concerns that allowing the death penalty in child-rape cases could make abuse less likely to be reported or give perpetrators an incentive to kill victims who might testify against them. Those concerns were part of the broader debate surrounding the Supreme Court’s 2008 decision. Leach’s proposal will come as all 150 Texas House seats are on the ballot in November. Any bill would still need approval from both chambers of the Legislature and the governor before becoming law.