Tag Archives: SCOTUS

Tarrant county does mid-decade redistricting and gets sued over it

Posted on June 5, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

First there was this. The Tarrant County Commissioners Court could get a bigger conservative majority next year under a new map passed Tuesday. Republican Commissioners Manny Ramirez, Matt Krause and County Judge Tim O’Hare voted to adopt the map. Democratic … Continue reading →

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SCOTx gives Paxton another crack at Annunciation House

Posted on June 2, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Ugh. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton can move forward with his efforts to gather records from El Paso’s Annunciation House to investigate his claims that the migrant shelter network was harboring undocumented immigrants, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday. “We … Continue reading →

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Trojan “abortion exceptions” bill passes

Posted on May 24, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

For better or worse. A bill clarifying when doctors can perform abortions under Texas’ near-total ban will now go to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk after the House approved the bill with wide bipartisan support. Despite some concerns raised by conservative … Continue reading →

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Long-awaited Texas redistricting trial begins

Posted on May 21, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Been waiting a long time for this one. Questions over whether Latinos had their voting power diminished in the Dallas area will be a focus of a federal trial in El Paso that begins Wednesday. U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, … Continue reading →

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Houston hospitals have done worse with the abortion ban than Dallas hospitals have

Posted on May 16, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Unacceptable. Nearly four years ago in Texas, the state’s new abortion law started getting in the way of basic miscarriage care: As women waited in hospitals cramping, fluid running down their legs, doctors told them they couldn’t empty their uterus … Continue reading →

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Spring Branch ID to appeal redistricting verdict

Posted on May 15, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

As expected. Spring Branch ISD officials plan to appeal last month’s federal ruling that the district violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by holding at-large elections, the board president said Monday night after an executive session discussion. While awaiting … Continue reading →

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Be wary of the Trump mifepristone strategy

Posted on May 11, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Hmmmm. On Monday, Trump’s Justice Department slotted into a long-running, right-wing effort to get the abortion drug mifepristone restricted or yanked from the market altogether. Instead of joining forces with the red states challenging the drug, though, it largely picked … Continue reading →

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Spring Branch ISD ruled to have violated the Voting Rights Act

Posted on May 1, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

And they are ordered to adopt single-member districts. A federal judge found Spring Branch ISD violated the Voting Rights Act and ordered the west Harris County district to overhaul its system so that the voices of Hispanic voters can be heard, but … Continue reading →

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It’s the Hotze Show again

Posted on April 25, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Oh, my God. For over a decade, Americans with private health insurance have enjoyed free access to dozens of types of preventive health care: cholesterol medication, prenatal care, and many types of cancer screenings, as well as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), the “miracle … Continue reading →

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Just another reminder that abortion bans kill women

Posted on April 24, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

In case you needed it. Pregnant people living in states with abortion bans are almost twice as likely to die during pregnancy or soon after giving birth, a report released Wednesday found. The risk is greatest for Black women in … Continue reading →

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A win for protecting the right to travel

Posted on April 3, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Good news, but the legal fight is far from over. The state of Alabama cannot prosecute groups that help people leave the state for an abortion, a federal judge ruled late Monday. The decision — one of the first to … Continue reading →

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Some plaintiffs drop out of redistricting litigation

Posted on March 30, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Unfortunate but not unexpected. Two months before a scheduled trial, a coalition of voting rights groups is withdrawing from a long-running challenge to the political maps Texas drew after the 2020 U.S. census, which the groups said diluted the voting power of … Continue reading →

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New York county clerk refuses to file judgment against Dr. Carpenter

Posted on March 28, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Here we go. A county clerk in New York refused Thursday to file a more than $100,000 judgment from Texas against a doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills to a woman near Dallas, setting up a potential challenge to laws … Continue reading →

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Beware the trojan “abortion exceptions” bill

Posted on March 27, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Jessica Valenti warns us. Texas Republicans are poised to pull a fast one: They’ve convinced Democrats and doctors to support a bill they claim will protect life-saving abortion care and ‘clarify’ the state’s ban. But the rapidly advancing “Life of … Continue reading →

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Justice Department drops Texas redistricting lawsuit

Posted on March 14, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Can’t say I’m surprised. The U.S. Justice Department withdrew from a lawsuit alleging that Texas’ legislative and congressional district maps drawn after the 2020 U.S. census discriminated against Latino and Black voters by denying them an equal opportunity to participate … Continue reading →

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Dr. Carpenter ordered to stop sending abortion pills to Texas

Posted on February 15, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

And we’re off. A Collin County judge has ordered a New York doctor to stop prescribing abortion-inducing medication to Texas residents and ordered her to pay a $100,000 fine. Thursday’s ruling is the opening salvo in what’s expected to be … Continue reading →

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Fighting back with Amy Hagstrom Miller

Posted on February 11, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Great article. In the frenetic days following the November election, longtime abortion provider Amy Hagstrom Miller spent a lot of time in meetings—some in person, some on Zoom—rallying her troops. As one of the most prominent, and tenacious, independent abortion … Continue reading →

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More on the legal attacks against Dr. Carpenter of New York

Posted on February 10, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Slate legal expert Mary Ziegler weighs in on Louisiana’s attempt to prosecute New York doctor Margaret Carpenter for sending abortion pills to a woman in that state. Dr. Carpenter has also been sued by Ken Paxton for the same thing … Continue reading →

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More blocks on the SCOPE Act

Posted on February 9, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Some late Friday news. A federal district court on Friday has issued more temporary blocks on provisions of a Texas law designed to restrict what kinds of materials and advertisements minors can see on social media and age verification requirements. … Continue reading →

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Of course minors are seeking out of state abortions, too

Posted on February 3, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

What did you expect? At least 100 Texas children aged 17 and younger got abortions in other states during the first year after Texas banned the procedure, including six aged 11 and under, according to the latest state data available. … Continue reading →

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Louisiana indicts NY doctor for providing mifepristone

Posted on February 2, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

And the stakes get raised again. A New York doctor was criminally indicted Friday for allegedly prescribing abortion pills to a girl in Louisiana in what appears to be the first time an abortion provider has been prosecuted since Roe … Continue reading →

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State Bar to drop its lawsuit against Paxton

Posted on January 24, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Welp. The State Bar of Texas on Wednesday moved to drop its lawsuit against Attorney General Ken Paxton for his attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, extending a cascade of legal and political wins for the … Continue reading →

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Next assault on mifepristone gets the rubber stamp

Posted on January 19, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Here it comes. The Texas judge who previously halted approval of the nation’s most common method of abortion ruled Thursday that three states can move ahead with another attempt to roll back federal rules and make it harder for people across … Continue reading →

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Paxton asks SCOTx to get him off the State Bar hook

Posted on January 17, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

As the sun rises in the east. Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office wants the Texas Supreme Court to throw out a State Bar ethics complaint against him — two weeks after the court dismissed a similar complaint against his assistant attorney general. … Continue reading →

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SCOTUS hears the Texas anti-porn case

Posted on January 16, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

There’s a lot on the line here. The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared conflicted over whether a Texas law regulating adult entertainment websites infringes upon First Amendment free speech rights of adults seeking to access online pornography. At issue … Continue reading →

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SCOTx hears Paxton’s appeal of the Annunciation House case

Posted on January 14, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

A big one. The Texas Attorney General’s Office told sometimes skeptical Texas Supreme Court justices Monday that El Paso’s Annunciation House migrant shelters are harboring undocumented immigrants and can’t use Catholic religious beliefs as a legal justification for its actions. … Continue reading →

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Very few minors actually get gender-affirming care

Posted on January 12, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Of interest. How many transgender teens in the U.S. are receiving medical care related to gender transitions? According to a peer-reviewed research letter published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics, the answer is very, very few. It’s a key data point as Republican lawmakers in Congress … Continue reading →

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Paxton sues TikTok

Posted on January 11, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Feels like this is about to be moot, but here we are. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday sued TikTok for the second time in recent months, accusing the social media company of violating deceptive trade law by downplaying … Continue reading →

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The Kansas experience with requiring proof of citizenship to vote

Posted on January 2, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Also not good. Republicans made claims about illegal voting by noncitizens a centerpiece of their 2024 campaign messaging and plan to push legislation in the new Congress requiring voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship. Yet there’s one place with a GOP supermajority where linking voting … Continue reading →

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SCOTx lets Brent Webster off the hook

Posted on January 1, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Gotta love a pre-holiday news dump. The Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday ended a professional misconduct case against a top aide to Attorney General Ken Paxton for his role in challenging the 2020 election results, previewing a likely outcome for … Continue reading →

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Paxton sues out of state abortion provider

Posted on December 14, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

The thing about rot is that it has a tendency to spread. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit accusing a New York doctor of prescribing abortion drugs to a Texas resident in violation of state law. This … Continue reading →

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The SCOTUS gender affirming care ban case is about much more than that

Posted on December 6, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

It’s about equal protection under the law. In a striking echo of how they dispensed with abortion rights, many right-wing justices Wednesday advocated for a “leave it to the states” approach on trans health care, rhetorical cover for a legal … Continue reading →

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Texas does not want to know what the post-Dobbs maternal mortality rate is

Posted on December 5, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Not at this time, and not if it can help it. Texas officials will not investigate pregnancy-related deaths for 2022 and 2023, skipping over the years immediately following the state’s controversial abortion ban, which critics say has led to more … Continue reading →

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The legislative attacks on mifepristone are coming

Posted on November 29, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Get ready. A Louisiana law that reclassified abortion-inducing drugs as controlled substances has made it more difficult for doctors to treat a wide range of gynecological conditions, doctors say. Now, a similar proposal has been filed in Texas. Texas Rep. … Continue reading →

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