Tag Archives: Supreme Court

More indictments against Maria Rojas

Posted on September 10, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Remember to wait until her lawyers get a chance to respond before making any inferences about this. The Texas midwife who earlier this year became the first person charged under the state law banning people from performing abortions is now charged with 15 … Continue reading →

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Paxton throws a fit over being slowed down by Republican judges

Posted on August 31, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

There sadly isn’t a good straight news (non-paywalled) story about this, but Raw Story has a decent summary. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton took to X on Wednesday to rage against state appeals court judges after they paused discovery in … Continue reading →

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Hotze again asks for pause in his civil trial

Posted on August 27, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

“Screw this guy” will always be my response. Conservative activist Steven Hotze asked the Texas Supreme Court to pause a lawsuit against him until after the criminal trial of his former private eye, who in 2020 allegedly assaulted an air-conditioning repairman … Continue reading →

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Special Session 2: [Insert dumb sequel name here]

Posted on August 16, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

As promised/threatened. With the Texas House still frozen by Democrats’ absence from the state, Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday called a second special session to begin less than two hours after the Legislature gaveled out the first overtime round. The … Continue reading →

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The end (of the quorum break) is near

Posted on August 15, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

And getting nearer. The House Democrats who fled Texas to block GOP redistricting appear likely to return in the coming days, according to a press release they issued Thursday. The caucus said its members will return if Republicans follow through … Continue reading →

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So when might the quorum busters return?

Posted on August 14, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Before I address that question, here’s an important bit of business to resolve. Illinois courts will not force Texas Democrats back to the state, a judge ruled Wednesday, dealing a blow to Attorney General Ken Paxton and House Speaker Dustin … Continue reading →

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Everything happens on Tuesday

Posted on August 13, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Hey, remember when I said yesterday that there was still no quorum and not much had happened? That was then, this is now. The Supreme Court will take its sweet time in deciding on those quo warranto filings to expel … Continue reading →

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Still no quorum

Posted on August 12, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

I’m sitting here waiting for the Supreme Court to take up those ridiculous quo warranto actions by Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton and have been hesitant to start writing something for fear that I’ll have to trash it and start … Continue reading →

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Quorum break Day 5 roundup: Help an ideological enemy out?

Posted on August 9, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Hilarious. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and House Speaker Dustin Burrows are asking an Illinois court to enforce arrest warrants against Democratic lawmakers who have left the state to delay passage of a GOP-backed congressional map. Burrows issued civil arrest … Continue reading →

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Quorum break Day 4 roundup: So what is the FBI doing?

Posted on August 8, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Nobody knows. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn announced that the FBI has granted his request to investigate and locate the Texas Democratic lawmakers who left the state in an attempt to stop the passage of new GOP-favored congressional maps. A spokesperson … Continue reading →

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Quorum break Day 3 roundup: Of course there’s a bomb threat

Posted on August 7, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

I suppose something like this was inevitable. Texas House Democrats in Illinois to block GOP redistricting were evacuated from their hotel Wednesday morning due to a bomb threat, lawmakers and local police said. A press conference scheduled for 12:30 p.m. … Continue reading →

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Quorum break Day 2 roundup: Paxton hauls out a big threat

Posted on August 6, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

He seems destined to fail, but we’re going to go through the motions anyway, I guess. Attorney General Ken Paxton will ask for a court ruling declaring vacant the seats of any lawmakers who are not back to work by … Continue reading →

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Just how intimate are those emails?

Posted on July 15, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

The mind reels. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott doesn’t want to reveal months of communications with Elon Musk or representatives from the tech mogul’s companies, arguing in part that they are of a private nature, not of public interest and potentially embarrassing. Musk had an … Continue reading →

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Paxton drops his latest whistleblower appeal

Posted on July 6, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

We’ll see if this time it sticks. Texas will pay $6.6 million to four former top deputies to Attorney General Ken Paxton who say they were fired after reporting their boss to the FBI. This years-long legal saga reached its … Continue reading →

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Paxton’s State Fair gun ban lawsuit tossed

Posted on July 2, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Good. A Dallas County district judge dismissed state Attorney General Ken Paxton’s suit against the State Fair of Texas and the City of Dallas, for gun restrictions that were enacted following a 2023 shooting that injured three people at the … Continue reading →

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SCOTx rules for San Antonio in the Brackenridge Park religious liberties case

Posted on June 26, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Noted for the record. The Texas Supreme Court has sided with the City of San Antonio in a dispute involving a Native American church that worships at Brackenridge Park. The case centers on the Lipan- Apache Native American Church, who … 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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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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Paxton whistleblowers get what they asked for

Posted on April 7, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Good for them, and good in general. A Travis County district court judge on Friday awarded $6.6 million to four former senior aides to Attorney General Ken Paxton who said they were improperly fired after reporting Paxton to the FBI. … Continue reading →

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Paxton opines against birth certificate and drivers license changes

Posted on March 16, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

This fuckin’ guy… State agencies should not honor court orders to change the sex on someone’s driver’s license or birth certificate, according to an opinion filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Friday. He also said state agencies should retroactively … Continue reading →

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Roberson files another appeal

Posted on February 24, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

I wish him luck. Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson filed a new appeal with the state’s highest criminal court on Wednesday in his first attempt to overturn his death sentence since an unprecedented intervention by a state legislative committee … Continue reading →

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Paxton whistleblowers ask for $6.7 million in damages

Posted on February 22, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

I wish them luck. Senior officials who were fired after reporting Attorney General Ken Paxton to law enforcement for alleged criminal conduct in 2020 asked a Travis County judge Thursday to award them $6.7 million in damages. Paxton’s office has … Continue reading →

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SCOTx hears appeal of lawsuits over Winter Storm Uri deaths

Posted on February 20, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

The question at issue is whether anyone can be sued, since at this point there are no defendants left. The Texas Supreme Court revisited the deadly mass outages of the 2021 freeze on its fourth anniversary during a Wednesday hearing, which … Continue reading →

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City to use Metro funds to help pay for that additional drainage stuff

Posted on February 6, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Sure is convenient havigna transit agency you can raid. Houston officials plan to offset a $100 million hit to the city’s budget in a recent legal ruling by using cash from the Metropolitan Transit Authority to spend more money on … Continue reading →

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Hotze gets a pause on his civil trial

Posted on February 5, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Oh for crying out loud. The Texas Supreme Court stayed proceedings in a civil lawsuit filed against Republican activist Steven Hotze, amid his attempt to block claims over the alleged attack of a man targeted in a voter fraud conspiracy … Continue reading →

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SCOTx rejects appeal of that zombie ReBuild lawsuit

Posted on February 1, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

End of the line. The Texas Supreme Court on Friday denied Houston’s motion to appeal a long-standing lawsuit requiring the city to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on street and drainage projects. Friday’s ruling could add yet another financial challenge to a strained city … 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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The YouTube judge

Posted on December 27, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Very interesting. Defendants accused of low-level crimes could soon be handed cautionary fliers warning what they say and do in Harris County Judge David Fleischer’s courtroom may live on social media. This is because Fleischer, a two-term Democrat jurist, shares … Continue reading →

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Uplift Harris 2.0 still on hold

Posted on December 17, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Just part of the process at this point. Harris County’s second version of a guaranteed income program has been blocked as it awaits a final appeal after a recent court order stopped the county from distributing funds under the revamped … Continue reading →

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The birds and the trees and the religious liberties

Posted on December 15, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I really don’t know what to make of this, which is a story about an unusual religious liberties lawsuit that the city of San Antonio and the 2021 constitutional amendment that expanded religious freedom in Texas, stemming from a backlash … 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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Paxton won’t be deposed by the whistleblowers

Posted on November 23, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Alas. Attorney General Ken Paxton will not have to sit for a deposition in a longstanding lawsuit filed by four former senior aides who said he improperly fired them after they reported him to the FBI, the Texas Supreme Court … Continue reading →

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Paxton sues Dallas over its marijuana decriminalization law

Posted on November 22, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

As expected. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the city of Dallas over the newly approved Proposition R — which decriminalizes up to four ounces of marijuana in the city. The filing names the entire Dallas City Council, Mayor … Continue reading →

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SCOTx lets Robert Roberson get another execution date

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

But thank God that separation of powers was preserved. The Texas Supreme Court on Friday ruled a House committee overstepped its authority when it effectively stalled Robert Roberson’s execution by issuing an eleventh-hour subpoena. The ruling clears the way for … Continue reading →

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