Tag Archives: SCOTUS

Lawsuit against Lubbock “abortion sanctuary city” ordinance dismissed

Posted on June 4, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

This is gonna get weird. A federal district judge dismissed on Tuesday a lawsuit to block a voter-approved abortion ban from taking effect in Lubbock, saying Planned Parenthood did not have standing to sue the city. The decision comes just … Continue reading →

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Lawsuit filed against Lubbock “abortion sanctuary city” ordinance

Posted on May 21, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Looks like this kind of tactic will finally be tested in court. Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas sued the city of Lubbock on Monday over a voter-approved “sanctuary city for the unborn” ordinance that seeks … Continue reading →

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Dave Wilson censure lawsuit goes to SCOTUS

Posted on May 3, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

We live in strange times. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case involving former Houston Community College trustee Dave Wilson who alleges in a lawsuit that the school violated his constitutional rights. Wilson, who served on HCC’s board … Continue reading →

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Census apportionment numbers are in

Posted on April 27, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Texas will gain two seats in Congress, which is one fewer than had been expected based on population growth estimates. Texas will continue to see its political clout grow as it gains two additional congressional seats — the most of … Continue reading →

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First major vote suppression bill passes

Posted on April 2, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Nothing’s going to stop them. Senate Republicans on Thursday cleared the way for new, sweeping restrictions to voting in Texas that take particular aim at forbidding local efforts meant to widen access. In an overnight vote after more than seven … Continue reading →

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Assault on abortion advances in Senate

Posted on March 31, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

I have four things to say about this. The Texas Senate gave initial approval Monday to a half-dozen bills that would restrict access to abortion, including a priority measure that could ban abortions before many women know they are pregnant. … Continue reading →

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The next frontiers in anti-abortion law

Posted on March 21, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Why not attack the legal system while you’re at it? Texas lawmakers — pushing to drastically restrict abortion access — have included language in a priority bill meant to make it harder to block the law from taking effect and … Continue reading →

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So how did Paxton’s budget grilling go?

Posted on February 14, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Meh. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton violated his budget authority when he transferred $40 million of taxpayer money to cover pay raises for some members of his staff without approval of the Legislature or the governor, triggering an angry response … Continue reading →

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Might Republican AGs suffer in court for their seditions?

Posted on February 8, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

This AP article considers the effect of the ridiculous Ken Paxton lawsuit and the role that the Republican Attorneys General Association played in the insurrection at the Capitol and asks the question from the title. Some legal experts think the … Continue reading →

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Abortion’s going to get more illegal

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

It’s just a question of how much. Republican lawmakers, buoyed by a conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court and the trouncing of state-level Democrats in the November election, are pushing to reclaim Texas’ role as the vanguard among states … Continue reading →

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Paxton the puppet

Posted on February 3, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

This is just pathetic. The long-shot lawsuit from Texas, which sought to invalidate the results in four swing states, was not drafted by Republican attorney general of Texas, Ken Paxton, but by Donald Trump’s own lawyers, revealed a new report. … Continue reading →

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A brief summary of what the next two years will be like

Posted on January 22, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

What will Republicans do without Trump? “The Republican Party is at a crossroads like it’s never been before, and it’s gonna have to decide who it is,” said Corbin Casteel, a Texas GOP operative who was Trump’s Texas state director … Continue reading →

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SCOTUS rejects TDP petition on vote by mail

Posted on January 18, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Back to the lower court, I think. The U.S. Supreme Court turned away a Democratic bid to force universal vote-by-mail in Texas, leaving intact a state law that lets people cast no-excuse absentee ballots only if they are 65 or … Continue reading →

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Census Bureau will miss deadline that would allow for apportionment shenanigans

Posted on January 2, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Good. The Census Bureau will miss a year-end deadline for handing in numbers used for divvying up congressional seats, a delay that could undermine President Donald Trump’s efforts to exclude people in the country illegally from the count if the … Continue reading →

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SCOTUS mostly punts on Census apportionment shenanigans

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

They seem to be hoping that the problem will solve itself, while applying a partisan litmus test to when it is appropriate for them to step in. The Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to Donald Trump’s final sabotage of the … Continue reading →

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TDP asks SCOTUS to review age discrimination claim in mail voting

Posted on December 21, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Today, the Texas Democratic Party and voters filed their final brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking its review of the case filed last Spring which challenged the constitutionality of Texas’s law that limits voting by mail, … Continue reading →

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“Of course I didn’t say the thing that I totally said”

Posted on December 19, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

“You just weren’t supposed to understand it.” Texas Republican Party Chairman Allen West said Monday he was not advocating secession from the United States in his response on Friday to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to refuse to take up … Continue reading →

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Can Ken Paxton be sanctioned for his seditious lawsuit?

Posted on December 18, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

One group is going to try. I wish them luck. A national lawyers group on Monday called for professional licensing bodies to investigate what it called a “breach of ethical rules” by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and 17 of … Continue reading →

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Now we wait on SCOTUS

Posted on December 12, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

The state of Texas filed its reply to the defendants’ responses to its democracy–killing lawsuit, and, well, it’s something. This brings us the Texas AG Ken Paxton’s reply–or, rather, replies, as there are multiple filings, including a motion to enlarge … Continue reading →

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The states respond to Paxton

Posted on December 11, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Now we wait for SCOTUS. I sure hope they’re quick about it. Each of the four battleground states targeted by a Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn President Donald Trump’s election defeat issued blistering briefs at the Supreme Court on Thursday, with … Continue reading →

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We still have to talk about Paxton’s ridiculous and anti-democratic lawsuit

Posted on December 10, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

At least for one more day. President Donald Trump on Wednesday latched on to a longshot Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn a presidential election that handed the White House to Joe Biden. Legal experts say Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s … Continue reading →

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Ken Paxton sues other states to overturn their election results

Posted on December 9, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

It’s as stupid and pernicious as it sounds. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing four battleground states — Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — whose election results handed the White House to President-elect Joe Biden. In the suit, he … Continue reading →

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No Walmart liquor stores

Posted on November 28, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Some non-election litigation news of interest. Texans still won’t be able to purchase liquor at Walmart, after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a bid by the retail giant that would have allowed the booze to be sold at stores in … Continue reading →

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We might get better Census apportionment data

Posted on November 24, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Some good news. The Census Bureau has identified issues in the data from the 2020 decennial census that will take an additional 20 days or so for it to fix, and thus delay the release of survey’s apportionment data until … Continue reading →

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Still worried about the Census

Posted on October 18, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

There’s this. The census came to an abrupt halt Thursday after a pandemic and a legal tug-of-war threw the massive survey into chaos. Officials around the country now fear they’ll lose their fair share of federal funding and political representation … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Judicial races

Posted on October 13, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron endorses two Dem challengers and one Republican incumbent for the Court of Criminal Appeals. A court’s legitimacy derives in part from its capacity to inspire trust in the minds of those who live by its rulings. “There cannot … Continue reading →

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And straight ticket voting is off again

Posted on October 1, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

No surprise, but boy are we all getting whiplash over here. Texas voters will not be able to select every candidate of a major political party with one punch, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, upholding a 2017 state law … Continue reading →

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October Census deadline restored

Posted on September 27, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Good news, though as with everything we can’t be sure just yet that it’s for real. A federal judge in California late Thursday blocked the Trump administration from stopping the 2020 Census count next week, saying it should continue until … Continue reading →

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Lawsuit filed over gun sign law

Posted on September 17, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

This is interesting. A church in Clear Lake and a coffeeshop in the Heights are challenging a Texas law that dictates how no-gun signs are displayed. Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church and Antidote Coffee allege the signs private properties need … Continue reading →

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We still need that equality bill in the Lege

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

That SCOTUS ruling was huge, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. LGBTQ Texans marked a major victory Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal civil rights law prevents employment discrimination on the basis of … Continue reading →

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2020 Primary Runoff Early Voting, Second Wednesday: This is all the vote by mail we’re going to get

Posted on July 9, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I’m going to start this update off with a bummer of a legal analysis from Vox’s Ian Millhiser: The Texas case, meanwhile, is Texas Democratic Party v. Abbott, and the stakes in that case are simply enormous. Texas law permits voters … Continue reading →

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No fast track on vote by mail lawsuit

Posted on July 4, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I confess, I hadn’t been aware that this was in the hopper. The U.S. Supreme Court won’t fast-track a bid by Texas Democrats to decide whether all Texas voters can vote by mail during the coronavirus pandemic, leaving in place … Continue reading →

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SCOTUS declines to outlaw abortion for now

Posted on July 1, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

You may have heard about this from the other day. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law Monday that would have curtailed access to abortions in the state and that was nearly identical to a measure the court … Continue reading →

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Interview with Rep. Marc Veasey

Posted on June 29, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

When I came up with the idea to do a series of interviews about redistricting, Rep. Marc Veasey was among the first people I wanted to talk to. He was a State Rep in 2011 when the original maps were … Continue reading →

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