COURTS

Experts argue other assertions made in the lawsuit filing are completely unsubstantiated, such as one claiming that vaccinated people were more likely to die from COVID-19, which Texas health data disputes.

Judge Alia Moses ruled in the federal government’s favor but chided the Biden administration for not allowing migrants to use international bridges to claim asylum.

House Bill 900 seeks to rid school libraries of inappropriate books by requiring book vendors to rate materials. A legal challenge says the law is too vague and broad.

Once a tool of journalists and concerned citizens to hold government accountable, open records requests have been increasingly used by political opponents and conspiracy theorists to slow down the pace of government.

In August, a judge ruled that the state’s near-total abortion ban should not apply to medically complicated pregnancies. The state appealed that ruling to the Texas Supreme Court, putting it on hold.

The motion, filed Tuesday, comes a week after a judge in Burnet County allowed the 3-year-old whistleblower lawsuit to proceed.

After a report from Media Matters showed advertisements from major brands appeared next to antisemitic posts on X, the company sued the media watchdog group and its reporter. The Texas Attorney General’s Office plans to investigate the nonprofit for potential fraud.

Judges overturned a state air pollution permit that was issued last year, arguing that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality illegally enabled Port Arthur LNG to avoid emissions control requirements.

Last year, Texas joined more than 30 other states in banning TikTok on government-issued cell phones and computers. A nationwide coalition of professors are suing the state over the ban, arguing it has limited their ability to teach and research the social media app.

The legal battle stems from the attorney general’s unsuccessful 2020 lawsuit that leaned heavily on discredited claims of election fraud in other states. Paxton’s lawyers argue that the bar’s lawsuit is an attempt to control how he runs his office.

Twenty women are challenging the state’s abortion laws, saying they were unable to get the health care they needed for their medically complex pregnancies.

Aaron Nielson will take a one-year leave of absence from BYU’s law school to lead the influential unit within the attorney general’s office.

During the impeachment trial, whistleblowers testified they believed Paul to be a criminal and were concerned that Paxton was essentially turning the keys of the office over to him.

Texans soundly defeated a constitutional amendment that would have let judges stay on the bench longer. Proposition 13 would have increased the minimum retirement age from 70 to 75 and the mandatory retirement age from 75 to 79.

Voters approved a massive property tax cut and several other measures, but refused to raise the mandatory retirement age for judges.

Former top aides to the Texas attorney general are seeking damages for their firings after they reported Paxton to the FBI. The Legislature opted not to authorize a $3.3 million settlement in the lawsuit.

The federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act requires hospitals to stabilize any patient in the emergency room, even, the Biden administration noted in recent guidance, if that requires performing an abortion. Texas sued over the guidance last year.

The high court heard arguments in the case brought by Zackey Rahimi, who went on a shooting spree after being placed under a domestic violence protective order. Rahimi argues that his constitutional right to bear arms was violated.

A report from Department of Family and Protective Services watchdogs paints a picture of a roughshod safety-net system that is unprepared to protect its youthful charges from predators and unable to keep them from endangering themselves.

Judge Andrea Beall ruled Tuesday that the prosecutors, Brian Wice and Kent Schaffer, are owed the $300-an-hour rate by the county that they were promised when they started on the case in 2015.

Border Patrol agents have cut through the state’s wire to free migrants or take them into custody. Judge Alia Moses will hear arguments from Texas and the Biden administration next week to determine whether her temporary order will continue past Nov. 13.

The charges stem from accusations that in 2011 Paxton tried to solicit investors in a McKinney technology company without disclosing that it was paying him to promote its stock. The attorney general has pleaded not guilty.

Texas Supreme Court justices heard arguments Wednesday in the case of a Waco judge who refused to marry same-sex couples. It is unclear when the high court will issue a ruling.

The city allocated $500,000 to establish the fund, but has not yet said how that money will be used. The lawsuit asks a judge to block the money from going to groups that pay for out-of-state abortions.

Two Texas House members and an immigration lawyer sat down with Matthew Watkins, the Tribune’s managing editor of news and politics, to discuss the current state of Texas’ border and immigration bills that lawmakers are weighing during the special session.

A government shutdown would not impact operations along our borders, but would mean tens of thousands of Border Patrol Agents and Officers with the Office of Field Operations would have to work without pay.

The judge tossed the suit after the university argued a new state law that will go into effect in January, Senate Bill 17, already prohibits preferential treatment in hiring at public universities.

Panetti murdered his in-laws in 1992. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2007 set new court precedent with his case, raising the bar on the constitutional restriction against executing the insane.

Senate Bill 12 would have prohibited performers from dancing suggestively or wearing certain prosthetics in front of children. Critics sued the state, saying it violated the First Amendment.

The Department of Family and Protective Services has increasingly relied on housing foster kids in hotels when it can’t find them a home. In the 2022 fiscal year, after record staff turnover, more than 1 in 4 caseworkers had less than one year of experience.

On Monday, the former state employees argued that Paxton has failed to uphold key parts of the settlement agreement, including a $3.3 million payment and a promise to apologize.

Lawyers criticize a provision they say erodes the separation of powers between Texas’ executive branch and its courts. It’s been used repeatedly this year as Texans try to block new state laws from going into effect

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled that the student fundraiser featuring drag performers was not protected, raising the stakes for a battle over First Amendment rights and drag shows.

The Texas attorney general was exonerated by the state Senate, but a lawsuit from former employees still lingers.

The impeachment proceedings, and the events that precipitated them, have left the Texas Office of the Attorney General in turmoil. Can Paxton steady the ship of an institution vital to the conservative cause?

The attorney general’s long-simmering securities fraud case appears closer to resolution, while the FBI has probed the same allegations that played a major role in his impeachment.

A Paxton whistleblower testified that the attorney general took an unusual interest in Nate Paul’s litigation against a charity in 2020. Another said Paul benefited from an opinion on foreclosures.

Records obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune give deeper insight into how Paxton’s representation denials often pushed agencies to look for outside legal counsel that was ultimately funded by taxpayers.

House Bill 900 requires book vendors to rate all their materials based on their depictions or references to sex before selling them to schools. Vendors say the law aims to regulate protected speech with “vague and over broad” terms.

U.S. District Judge David Hittner heard from LGBTQ+ groups, businesses and a drag performer in a hearing this week, who argued Senate Bill 12 violated their First Amendment rights.

LGBTQ+ groups and drag performers suing the state argued Monday that Senate Bill 12 violates constitutionally-protected rights. The new law is set to go into effect on Friday unless a federal judge blocks it.

The state attorney general’s office appealed a state district court injunction that said the new prohibitions deprive trans kids of “necessary, safe, and effective medical treatment.”

In a court hearing over the barrier near Eagle Pass, the U.S. Justice Department argued it was installed without federal authorization, while lawyers for the state said it notified the proper authorities.

The ruling means the November elections in the state’s largest county will be overseen by two other county officials. Legislators targeted Harris County’s elections department after taking issue with the way the 2022 elections were run.

The lawsuit alleges that four migrants who were arrested under Operation Lone Star remained locked up as long as six weeks after their criminal trespassing cases were dismissed or they served their sentences.

Planned Parenthood has managed to stay open in Texas despite the state’s best efforts to shut it down. But a lawsuit in front of a conservative judge poses an existential threat.

The seven-months-pregnant officer reported contraction-like pains at work, but said she wasn’t allowed to leave for hours. The anti-abortion state is fighting her lawsuit, in part by saying her fetus didn’t clearly have rights.

The Austin American-Statesman reported that the grand jury has been convened in San Antonio. The identities of the witnesses and the focus of the inquiry remain unclear.

In just a few decades, the Texas attorney general’s office became a powerhouse in national legal fights over abortion, health care and immigration. Here’s a timeline of how it happened.

State District Court Judge Jessica Mangrum on Friday issued a temporary exemption to Texas’ abortion ban. Hours later, the attorney general’s office filed an appeal, which blocked the order.

State officials backing Senate Bill 12 have said they want to protect children from seeing sexually explicit performances. But new legal challenges say the law is so broad and vague that it criminalizes constitutionally protected expression.

The impeached attorney general appeared in a Houston courtroom, where lawyers from both sides agreed to return in October to set an expected trial date on charges that have been pending since 2015.

Barraging the Obama administration with lawsuits, the Texas attorney general’s office wasn’t just trying to block policies. It was injecting disruptive, overtly Christian legal philosophies into the mainstream, and grooming a generation of conservative legal warriors.

With his election as Texas attorney general, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn planted the seeds of conservatism. Gov. Greg Abbott used his tenure to cultivate them into an aggressive strain of right-wing activism aimed at driving the nation’s courts and laws to the right.

A federal judiciary full of ideological allies is helping Texas block Democratic priorities and advance right-wing legal doctrines. But the bigger prize is conservative control of the rule of law itself.

The string of buoys is a safety hazard that violates treaties and harms relations with Mexico, Justice Department lawyers tell a federal judge.

Two Texas bookstores and three national bookseller associations file suit over House Bill 900, which requires private booksellers to rate books on appropriateness, and bans “sexually explicit” material from libraries.

The women, believed to be the first to testify about an abortion ban’s impact on their pregnancy since 1973, are seeking to clarify when a medical emergency justifies an abortion.

The families argue the new law, which goes into effect Sept. 1, violates their parental rights by stopping them from providing medical care for their children and discriminates against transgender teens.

Higher education experts say universities can implement other strategies like targeted recruitment in underserved communities, eliminating legacy admissions and getting rid of test requirements.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a federal judge’s previous injunction that barred the college from charging out-of-state American citizens more than undocumented immigrants living in the state.

Patrick Crusius pleaded guilty and was sentenced Friday in federal court. He still faces state charges, and the local district attorney says he intends to seek the death penalty.

Overlooked in the churn of one of the country’s busiest courthouses, the forgotten appeals included two death penalty cases, and one from a man who’s already finished his 20-year sentence.

House Bill 2127 — dubbed the “Death Star” law by opponents — prevents local governments from creating rules that go further than what’s allowed under broad areas of state law. Houston’s suit says the new law violates the state’s constitution.

In this week’s two-topic TribCast, we discuss the U.S. Supreme Court blocking the consideration of race in college admissions and the dangerous heat inside Texas prisons this summer.

The court ruled in favor of the six GOP-led states that alleged President Joe Biden overstepped his authority with his loan forgiveness plan.

The state police agency had been withholding nearly all of its records on law enforcement’s botched response to Texas’ deadliest school shooting. DPS will have an opportunity to redact the files before they are released.

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled the practice unconstitutional, admissions experts say other states could look to Texas’ Top 10% Plan as a way to diversify their student bodies.

No other public universities use race as a factor, but Texas private schools like Rice and Southern Methodist University will be impacted.

Legislators also passed bills that will provide foster kids entering the troubled system with duffel bags or backpacks and those aging out of the system with help setting up bank accounts.

A year after the nation’s deadliest human smuggling event, federal prosecutors say seven people face a maximum of life in prison. One of the suspects, who was not identified, has not been arrested.

A U.S. district judge has long presided over a court case that found Texas’ foster care system unconstitutionally harms kids. Tuesday’s hearing was the first appearance by the state’s new team of defense attorneys.

The U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for major civil rights victories for queer Americans in the 2003 decision that decriminalized homosexuality. But progress for LGBTQ+ people has been uneven.

The all-Republican court narrowly found that the nonprofit corporation operating the state’s electrical grid qualifies for sovereign immunity, which protects government entities from lawsuits.

Texas and Louisiana sued after the Biden administration told immigration agents to focus on deporting undocumented immigrants who are convicted of felonies or pose a risk to public safety. The Supreme Court said states didn’t have any standing to sue.

The impact of Texas’ near-total ban on abortion is coming into focus as patients and providers leave the state, legal challenges languish and the state’s social safety net braces for a baby boom.

Texas State Historical Association members can’t agree on the makeup of the group’s board. And Executive Director J.P. Bryan, a descendant of Stephen F. Austin, is suing.

Libraries have been at the receiving end of book challenges, threats and new laws. Now, some worry a federal appeals court could chip away at long-standing protections.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court’s expected ruling on two cases challenging the policy commonly known as affirmative action in college admissions.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruling overturns lower-court decisions that had moved the case back to Collin County, where the suspended attorney general lives.

The high court left intact a key provision of the federal Voting Rights Act in a case many feared would go the other way. The decision’s importance in ongoing litigation over Texas’ political maps will largely be felt in what didn’t happen.

Billionaire Kelcy Warren claimed that he was defamed by the Democratic candidate’s criticism of the power-grid failure in 2021.

A 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel in New Orleans heard oral arguments Wednesday for an appeal to overturn a judge’s order that Llano County officials return to shelves books they had removed. It was not clear how or when the appellate panel would rule.

Rhodes was among the many Texans who played key roles in fomenting, planning or fueling the Jan. 6, 2021, violence at the U.S. Capitol.

The idea appeared to die in the Texas House over the weekend, but senators kept it alive by grafting the proposal on to another piece of legislation.

The adolescent clinic treated eating disorders and menstrual complications. It also offered gender-affirming care — which is still legal for now but triggered an investigation by Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Priority bills that died include a 10-year minimum sentencing for gun-related crimes, a ban on “critical race theory” at public universities and LGBTQ-related legislation. While the bills may be dead, lawmakers have a limited time to attach their ideas to legislation that are still alive.

The bill would allow for the removal of prosecutors who adopt any policy to not pursue certain crimes, including some low-level theft and drug charges. The Senate’s version will need to be reconciled with the House, which had carved out some exemptions.

The CROWN Act would ensure protection for Texans who wear their hair in natural styles such as braids, locs, twists or knots.

The change is supported by business groups, but has drawn opposition from media companies, First Amendment lawyers and political groups from across the ideological spectrum.

The women are accused of helping their friend terminate her pregnancy, but they now claim her ex-husband, who brought the lawsuit, knew she had obtained the medication and did nothing to stop her.

Moving the most violent and troubled youths to adult prison makes it easier to help others in juvenile facilities, some prosecutors and lawmakers say. Youth justice advocates say Texas is giving up on the children who most need help.

News publications and First Amendment advocates are fighting a bill to revise a state law meant to prevent litigants from weaponizing the legal system to punish people for speech they don’t like.

Wasi and his brother pray for their family’s safety as the holy month of Ramadan ends and the Taliban continues to rule Afghanistan.

The legal challenge to mifepristone now returns to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

Reed has long said he was wrongfully convicted for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites. His lawyers will now be able to renew their legal fight for testing of crucial crime scene evidence.

Supporters say the proposals would increase efficiency and expertise, but opponents argue the attempts are political and probably unconstitutional.

The U.S. Supreme Court originally planned to weigh in on the abortion pill case by Wednesday night, but extended the hold on the Amarillo ruling until Friday at midnight.

In this week’s episode, we discuss an attempt to use the courts in Texas to restrict the use of an abortion drug and Gov. Greg Abbott’s potential pardon of an Army sergeant found guilty of murdering a protester in Austin.

Both of Texas’ Republican senators voice support for Irma Carrillo Ramirez’s nomination to the conservative 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.