Tag Archives: Christian Menefee

More on the lawsuit against Paxton’s deranged ballot access opinion

Posted on January 25, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

There are actually three counties suing him, not just the one I had originally noted. At least three Texas counties — Tarrant, Williamson, and Harris — have sued Attorney General Ken Paxton and are asking a judge to strike down a legal … Continue reading →

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HD135 election contest dismissed

Posted on January 12, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: This week, Speaker of the Texas House Dade Phelan dismissed the election contest filed by Mike May, the candidate who lost to Representative Jon Rosenthal in the 2022 election for house district 135. The case was dismissed … Continue reading →

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Additional Losing Candidates File Election Contests in Harris County

Posted on January 7, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

That’s the subject of the following email I got in my inbox yesterday, and I can’t do any better than that for a post title. Additional Losing Candidates File Election Contests in Harris County Houston, Texas – Today, several losing Republican … Continue reading →

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Agreement reached on I-45 expansion plans

Posted on December 20, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I remain skeptical, but we’ll see. The bottleneck of design differences that has divided officials about remaking Interstate 45 north of downtown Houston is easing, officials said Monday, clearing the way for construction on the $10 billion project, perhaps in … Continue reading →

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Judge assigned to hear election loser contest

Posted on December 14, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox, a press release from Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee: Judge David Peeples will preside over the election contest filed by Republican candidate Erin Lunceford to void the results of her race for the 189th District Court in … Continue reading →

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And now we have a judicial loser contesting the election

Posted on December 9, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

The Republicans did warn us they’d be sore losers. Republican judicial candidate Erin Lunceford filed a petition Wednesday seeking a new election in Harris County’s 189th judicial district court race after losing by 2,743 votes out of more than 1 … Continue reading →

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Candidate who lost by 15 points files election contest

Posted on December 3, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Utterly ridiculous, and will hopefully be treated that way. A losing Republican candidate for the Texas House of Representatives is challenging his defeat and asking the Legislature to void the results of the election. Republican Mike May this week filed … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

SCOTx allows provisional votes to be counted

Posted on November 23, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Good. The Texas Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Harris County can include about 2,100 ballots cast during an extra hour of Election Day voting when officials certify the midterm results. But the state’s highest civil court also ordered Harris County … Continue reading →

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So what if anything will come of that SCOTx ruling on the extra voting time?

Posted on November 10, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I have no idea. The Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday set the stage for a legal fight over whether to count ballots Harris County voters cast during an extended hour of voting ordered by a lower court. That lower court … Continue reading →

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What AG “task force”?

Posted on November 10, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Who knows? The fact that Paxton – who helped lead the charge to overturn the 2020 national election results and promoted false claims that it was stolen – now planned to send people from his office to monitor Harris County … Continue reading →

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Justice Department agrees to send election monitors

Posted on November 8, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Good. The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday it will send election monitors to three Texas counties — Harris, Dallas and Waller — to keep an eye on local compliance with federal voting rights laws on Election Day. Monitors from … Continue reading →

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Harris County asks for federal vote monitors

Posted on October 22, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I agree with this. Houston and Harris County officials are asking the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights division to send monitors to assist in the upcoming November election in response to a letter the county received from the Texas … Continue reading →

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At least one local voter purge effort has been thwarted

Posted on October 4, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

For now, at least. Like flies to garbage, though, you know they’ll be back for more. The Harris County Elections Administrator’s Office received a flood of affidavits this summer challenging the eligibility of thousands of registered voters throughout the county, … Continue reading →

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Paxton issues deranged opinion on access to ballots

Posted on August 26, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

This is utterly chaotic. And completely out of the blue. A legal opinion released by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last week will almost certainly throw county elections offices into chaos after November, experts say, exposing election clerks to possible … Continue reading →

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This is why elections administrators are under attack

Posted on August 19, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

What a lousy thing to do right now. Harris County’s new elections administrator has not taken office yet, but the Harris County GOP is already trying to shape his reputation. On Wednesday, State Senator Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, tweeted an image … Continue reading →

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New bail bond rule survives again

Posted on August 18, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

On to the appeals. A judge rejected a second attempt by a bail bonding business to put an end to a Harris County rule requiring defendants accused of violent offenses to pay a minimum 10 percent fee to secure their release from jail, officials said … Continue reading →

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EPA to investigate TCEQ over concrete plant permits

Posted on August 11, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Well, this ought to be interesting. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is the subject of an investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency following complaints that the state agency violated civil rights laws in its permitting of concrete batch plants. … Continue reading →

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Who audits the auditors?

Posted on August 4, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

A novel idea. Not sure it will get anywhere, but it does send a message. Harris County Commissioners Court, by a 3-2 partisan vote, agreed to explore legal options, including a possible lawsuit, to challenge the results of a random … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020, Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The election night experience

Posted on May 25, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Let me start off by saying that my heart breaks for everyone in Uvalde. I cannot begin to fathom the pain and loss they are experiencing. I don’t know when we as a society will act to protect people from … Continue reading →

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SCOTx ponders the questions the Fifth Circuit asked it about SB1

Posted on May 15, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Seems like there’s not that much in dispute, but there’s always something. Texas Supreme Court justices questioned during oral argument if they should answer certified questions from a federal appeals court about challenges to an election law that created penalties … Continue reading →

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New bail bond rules survive initial court challenge

Posted on April 24, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

There are a couple of stories all rolled into this, so my apologies for any confusion. A ruling by a Harris County judge Friday will allow a recently-approved policy requiring bail bond agents to charge some defendants a 10 percent … Continue reading →

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State wants feds to un-pause I-45

Posted on April 5, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

We all want things. State highway officials held fast to their plans for rebuilding Interstate 45 in Houston on Thursday, offering a litany of benefits the project will bring and pressing federal officials to lift a 12-month-and-counting pause on development. … Continue reading →

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Fifth Circuit asks SCOTx for help on some SB1 issues

Posted on March 25, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

The Twitter summary: . Here are the questions the 5th Circuit asked the Texas Supremes to answer: https://ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/unpub/22/22-50110.0.pdf — Chuck Lindell (@chucklindell) 2:45 PM – 23 March 2022 To recap the history here, back in September a group of plaintiffs … Continue reading →

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Some DAs refuse to enforce Abbott’s anti-trans order

Posted on February 25, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

More like this, please. District attorneys in five of the largest counties in Texas on Thursday announced that they will not comply with Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) and state attorney general Ken Paxton’s (R) directive that state agencies begin investigating … Continue reading →

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Abbott and Paxton step up their attack on trans kids

Posted on February 24, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Brutal. The state’s child welfare agency says it will begin investigating instances of transgender youth receiving gender-affirming health care as possible child abuse, after direction from Gov. Greg Abbott based on a recent legal opinion issued by Attorney General Ken … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Of course the Fifth Circuit put a hold on the SB1 injunction

Posted on February 19, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

There is nothing more reliable in this world than the Fifth Circuit giving Republicans everything they ask for. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has put a temporary hold on a preliminary injunction that had blocked enforcement of a … Continue reading →

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Injunction granted in lawsuit over criminal penalties for election officials who encourage voting by mail

Posted on February 13, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

That’s a somewhat complicated headline for this. A new Texas law that keeps local election officials from encouraging voters to request mail-in ballots likely violates the First Amendment, a federal judge ruled late Friday. Following a testy three-hour hearing earlier … Continue reading →

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Third Court of Appeals upholds Harris County mask mandate

Posted on January 8, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Savor the win, for it’s off to SCOTx next. A state appeals court on Thursday upheld a lower-court injunction that allowed Harris County to impose mask requirements despite Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order banning such mandates. The Austin-based 3rd Court … Continue reading →

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Preliminary injunction sought against mail ballot restrictions

Posted on December 29, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Of interest. Today in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, and the Harris County Attorney’s Office moved for a preliminary injunction in Longoria v. Paxton, their challenge … Continue reading →

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Some I-45 work to resume

Posted on December 3, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Just some design work, for now. Federal officials have lifted their pause on a small piece of the planned Interstate 45 mega-project that will remake downtown Houston’s freeway system and has divided state transportation planners, community groups and local politicians. … Continue reading →

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Harris County to pause the I-45 lawsuit

Posted on November 16, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Gonna give talking a try. You never know. Harris County will pause its lawsuit against the Texas Department of Transportation over the proposed Interstate 45 widening in hopes that it leads to a consensus that has eluded them for more … Continue reading →

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More on the Abbott max anti-vaxx order

Posted on October 14, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Businesses will face a choice that they would rather not have to face. Companies doing business in Texas face new and complicated challenges after Gov. Greg Abbott this week banned COVID-19 vaccine mandates for all entities in the state — … Continue reading →

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A little sandbagging from the SOS on the fraudit

Posted on September 30, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Who’s running this show? In the five days since the Texas secretary of state’s office announced it is auditing the 2020 general election in four counties, local officials indicated they were in the dark about what the reviews would entail. … Continue reading →

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More on the fraudit

Posted on September 29, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

My God, Greg Abbott is a wimp. Donald Trump’s letter to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott demanding he pursue an “audit” of the 2020 election set off a “mad dash” in the governor’s office as aides sought to figure out just … Continue reading →

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