Tag Archives: SCOTUS

No Census citizenship question

Posted on July 3, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Hallelujah. The Trump administration is dropping plans to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, the Justice Department confirmed Tuesday just days after the Supreme Court described the rationale for the question as “contrived.” The decision to back away … Continue reading →

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Next up for the Census lawsuit

Posted on June 29, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Before the Trump administration can take a second shot at SCOTUS with the Census citizenship question, the federal court in Maryland will be revisiting their case with some new data. [The SCOTUS] decision came two days after a federal appeals … Continue reading →

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Census citizenship question stopped for now

Posted on June 28, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

“For now” being the key point. The Supreme Court on Thursday put on hold the Trump administration’s plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census form sent to every household, saying it had provided a “contrived” reason for … Continue reading →

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You are free to redistrict to your partisan heart’s content

Posted on June 28, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Your Supreme Court, ladies and gentlemen. In an effort to appear as though it hovers permanently above the partisan fray, the Supreme Court on Thursday delivered perhaps the most staggering win to the Republican Party since Bush v. Gore. In a pair of … Continue reading →

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How to rig the Census

Posted on May 31, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

This is how you would do it. The Trump administration’s controversial effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census was drawn up by the Republican Party’s gerrymandering mastermind, who wrote that it “would clearly be a disadvantage to … Continue reading →

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The Section 3 bail-in hearing

Posted on May 4, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

At long last, the final question to answer about Texas and the Voting Rights Act, namely has the state done enough bad stuff to be required to be put under preclearance again? Back in the federal courthouse where most of … Continue reading →

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Third Census lawsuit ruling against Trump administration

Posted on April 9, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Once, twice, three times an injunction. A federal judge in Maryland ruled Friday against the government’s addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, The Washington Post reported Friday. Judge George J. Hazel found that in deciding last year to … Continue reading →

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Trump goes all in against health care

Posted on March 27, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Game on. The Trump administration wants the federal courts to overturn the Affordable Care Act in its entirety, an escalation of its legal assault against the health care law. The Justice Department said in a brief filed on Monday that the administration supports a … Continue reading →

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Fifth Circuit wants to see how much it can gut abortion rights before it acts

Posted on March 15, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

That’s the takeaway you should have from this. A Texas law banning a common second-trimester abortion procedure will remain blocked after federal judges Wednesday postponed a decision until the Supreme Court takes action on a similar case. A federal district … Continue reading →

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A second win for plaintiffs in Census citizenship question lawsuit

Posted on March 11, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

It’s all up to SCOTUS now. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross acted in “bad faith,” broke several laws and violated the constitutional underpinning of representative democracy when he added a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. In finding … Continue reading →

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What can you legally wear when you go to vote?

Posted on March 4, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

That’s the subject of a lawsuit involving voters from Houston and Dallas. A Houston woman who was forced to turn a firefighters T-shirt inside out at the polls and a Dallas-area man who tried to vote in his Trump MAGA … Continue reading →

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Is the Lege going to try to “fix” HD90?

Posted on February 24, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a legislative to do list item that has been completely off the radar. Federal courts last year gave Texas lawmakers 45 days from the beginning of this year’s legislative session to start redrawing boundary lines for Fort Worth’s House … Continue reading →

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Paxton asks for summary judgement to end DACA

Posted on February 6, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Not much coverage of this, and I’m not sure what that means. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday asked a federal judge to strike down Obama-era deportation protections for immigrants whose parents brought them to the United States illegally … Continue reading →

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Of course some anti-abortion bill will pass this session

Posted on February 1, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Passing bills restricting abortion is one of the reasons the modern Republican Party exists, so of course some bill (or bills) which do that in some fashion will be passed in this legislative session. It’s as safe a bet as … Continue reading →

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MALDEF Census lawsuit in court

Posted on January 23, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Census lawsuit #2. In a federal courtroom in Maryland on Tuesday, lawyers representing the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, the Senate Hispanic Caucus and several Texas-based nonprofits that advocate for Latino and Asian residents will set out to convince U.S. District … Continue reading →

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Trump administration opposes Section 3 oversight

Posted on January 17, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

I mean, duh. In the latest about-face on voting rights under President Donald Trump, the U.S. Department of Justice no longer supports efforts to force Texas back under federal oversight of its electoral map drawing. In legal filings this week, … Continue reading →

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Plaintiffs win in Census citizenship question lawsuit

Posted on January 16, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Very good news. A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration’s plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, with an opinion that found the move by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross violated the Administrative Procedure Act. Furman’s … Continue reading →

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Omnibus lawsuit against Texas abortion laws begins

Posted on January 9, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Gotta say, I’m less optimistic about this now than I was when it was filed. State attorneys and lawyers representing reproductive rights groups argued in federal court Monday over whether a sweeping lawsuit challenging more than 60 Texas abortion regulations … Continue reading →

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Anti-Obamacare ruling appealed

Posted on January 6, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

The big non-Mueller story to follow for 2019. The Democratic coalition of states battling Texas over the fate of the Affordable Care Act has formally begun the process of challenging a Dec. 14 decision ruling the law unconstitutional in its … Continue reading →

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Ridiculous anti-Obamacare ruling remains on hold

Posted on January 2, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

It is what it is. The federal judge in Texas who ruled the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional said today that the law can stand while his judgment is under appeal. In his order issuing a stay and final partial judgment … Continue reading →

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The ACA decision

Posted on December 16, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Utterly ridiculous, and likely to be short-lived. A federal judge in Texas threw a dagger on Friday into the Affordable Care Act, ruling that the entire health-care law is unconstitutional because of a recent change in federal tax law. The … Continue reading →

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Moving forward on Section 3

Posted on December 5, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

There’s still redistricting litigation action happening. Late Friday afternoon, the coalition of voting rights groups that have fought the state for fairer legislative districts since the last round of redistricting in 2010 filed a pair of new briefs with the … Continue reading →

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Voter ID lawsuit officially ends

Posted on September 21, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

That’s all there is, at least until the next atrocity. A federal judge formally dismissed the lawsuit challenging the Texas voter ID law Monday, the final step in a yearslong fight that will allow the state to enforce a weakened … Continue reading →

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The hearing for the lawsuit to kill Obamacare

Posted on September 7, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Here we go again. At the hearing Wednesday, Texas aimed to convince U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor to block the law across the country as it continues to fight a months- or years-long legal case that could land before the … Continue reading →

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Going for Section 3

Posted on August 31, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

I wouldn’t get my hopes up, but Lord knows this is desperately needed. The voters of color, civil rights groups and Democratic lawmakers who have long challenged the validity of Texas’ political maps were dealt a bruising loss earlier this … Continue reading →

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The end of the voter ID fight

Posted on August 13, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

I guess that’s it. After seven long years of litigation, opponents of Texas’ voter ID law say the case is over. In a court filing on Wednesday, opponents of the law requiring Texas voters to present photo identification to vote … Continue reading →

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The DACA hearing

Posted on August 10, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t know about this. The state of Texas will continue to incur irreparable financial harm if an Obama-era immigration program isn’t halted immediately, attorneys for the state argued in Houston on Wednesday. But lawyers representing nearly two dozen recipients … Continue reading →

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One federal court orders DACA restored

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

But hold on, because there’s another ruling to come. A federal judge on Friday upheld his previous order to revive an Obama-era program that shields some 700,000 young immigrants from deportation, saying that the Trump administration had failed to justify … Continue reading →

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Same maps, different day

Posted on July 5, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

The coda to the SCOTUS redistricting ruling. The 2018 elections will move forward without any tweaks to Texas’ political maps. Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold all but one of the state’s political districts, a three-judge federal panel … Continue reading →

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What might be the SCOTUS effect on the Senate race?

Posted on July 2, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Insert shrug emoji here. In recent weeks, the race between U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, has largely revolved around immigration, playing out in detention centers along the southern border and over immigration bills … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Lawrence decision, 15 years later

Posted on June 30, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Time flies, but society moves slowly. Theirs was an unlikely case. John Lawrence and Tyron Garner weren’t in love, they weren’t a committed couple and it’s not clear that they were even having sex one September 1998 evening in Lawrence’s … Continue reading →

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The fruit of the poisoned tree

Posted on June 29, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

If the discriminatory intent of the Texas redistricting was no biggie, then surely the discriminatory intent of the voter ID law is no biggie too. Right? In a motion filed Wednesday, the Texas attorney general’s office asked U.S. District Judge … Continue reading →

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SCOTUS upholds Texas redistricting

Posted on June 26, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Screw this. Extinguishing the possibility that Texas could be placed back under federal electoral supervision, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday pushed aside claims that lawmakers intentionally discriminated against voters of color when they enacted the state’s congressional and state … Continue reading →

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SCOTUS and sales taxes

Posted on June 24, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

This ruling will be good for Texas. Texas stands to gain hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue after the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that states may force online retailers to collect sales tax even when they … Continue reading →

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