Texas must remove floating barrier from Rio Grande, Fifth Circuit Court orders
The appeals court upheld an earlier ruling by an Austin federal judge to remove the 1,000-foot-long barrier the state deployed near Eagle Pass. Full Story
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![Workers assemble a string of buoys, used to deter migrants from crossing the Rio Grande river, at the international border with Mexico in Eagle Pass, on July 27, 2023.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Adrees Latif -
Sandra Day O’Connor, born in El Paso, remains point of civic pride
O’Connor, the first female U.S. Supreme Court justice, died Friday. She is more commonly known as an Arizonan, but she graduated high school in Texas and multiple schools here now bear her name. Full Story
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![Retired U.S. Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor delivers the keynote speech ?Choosing (and Recusing) Our State Court Justices Wisely? during a conference at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington January 26, 2010. The conference was titled ?State Courts and U.S. Supreme Court Rulings: Will Caperton and Citizens United Change the Way States Pick Judges.?]()
Credit: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque -
DPS appeal halts release of Uvalde shooting records ordered by Texas judge
The files would shed light on the disastrous police response that day, in which officers waited more than an hour to confront the shooter after learning he had an AR-15 style rifle. Full Story
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![Texas Department of Public Safety officers guard the scene at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on May 24, 2022.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Marco Bello -
Texas attorney general sues Pfizer, claiming vaccines didn’t end pandemic quickly enough
Experts argue other assertions made in the lawsuit filing are completely unsubstantiated, such as one claiming that vaccinated people were more likely to die from COVID-19, which Texas health data disputes. Full Story
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![State Attorney General Ken Paxton holds a press conference at the Houston Recovery Center on October 26, 2021.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
Judge denies Texas’ request to stop feds from cutting border razor wire
Judge Alia Moses ruled in the federal government’s favor but chided the Biden administration for not allowing migrants to use international bridges to claim asylum. Full Story
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![National Guard members install concertina wire along the river bank on private property owned by the Urbinas in Eagle Pass, Texas on July 28, 2023.
Verónica G. Cárdenas for The Texas Tribune]()
Credit: Verónica Gabriela Cárdenas for The Texas Tribune -
Federal appeals court questions Texas’ new school library regulations
House Bill 900 seeks to rid school libraries of inappropriate books by requiring book vendors to rate materials. A legal challenge says the law is too vague and broad. Full Story
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![Partitions sit on a table in the library at Judson High School on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020 in Converse. The librarian purchased the partitions with her own funds for $7.50 each. Aisles of books are blocked off to control the flow of traffic through the library.]()
Credit: Allie Goulding/The Texas Tribune -
How one man's open records obsession sparked a fight over transparency and power in East Texas
Once a tool of journalists and concerned citizens to hold government accountable, open records requests have been increasingly used by political opponents and conspiracy theorists to slow down the pace of government. Full Story
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![David Stua in front of the Angelina County Court House in Lufkin on Monday, Nov. 27, 2023.]()
Credit: Joel Andrews for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Supreme Court considers abortion challenge
In August, a judge ruled that the state’s near-total abortion ban should not apply to medically complicated pregnancies. The state appealed that ruling to the Texas Supreme Court, putting it on hold. Full Story
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![President of Center for Reproductive Rights Nancy Northup speaks at a press conference announcing the filing of Zurawski v. State of Texas, at the Capitol on March 7, 2023. The lawsuit demands clarity from the state on what constitutes a “medical emergency” exception to abortion bans.]()
Credit: Leila Saidane/The Texas Tribune -
Whistleblowers ask judge to order Ken Paxton, aides to sit for depositions
The motion, filed Tuesday, comes a week after a judge in Burnet County allowed the 3-year-old whistleblower lawsuit to proceed. Full Story
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![At a press conference on May 26, 2023, Attorney General Ken Paxton with aides, from left to right: Tommy Tran, executive assistant; James R. Lloyd, associate deputy attorney general for civil litigation; Austin A. Kinghorn, associate deputy attorney general for legal counsel; Ryan Fisher, director of government relations; Joshua Reno, deputy attorney general for criminal justice; Suzanna Hupp, special adviser; Brent Webster, first assistant attorney general; Lesley French, chief of staff; George Lane, adviser; Paige Willey, deputy communications director; and Ralph M. Molina, deputy attorney general for legal strategy.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Ken Paxton announces investigation of media group following Elon Musk’s lawsuit
After a report from Media Matters showed advertisements from major brands appeared next to antisemitic posts on X, the company sued the media watchdog group and its reporter. The Texas Attorney General’s Office plans to investigate the nonprofit for potential fraud. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at the Collin County Labor day picnic in Plano, Texas on Sept. 2, 2023, just days before his impeachment trial.]()
Credit: Azul Sordo for the Texas Tribune -
Federal court overturns Texas agency’s pollution permit for Gulf Coast natural gas export terminal
Judges overturned a state air pollution permit that was issued last year, arguing that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality illegally enabled Port Arthur LNG to avoid emissions control requirements. Full Story
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![John Beard Jr., the founder and executive director of the Port Arthur Community Action Network, stands in front of the ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy’s Golden Pass LNG facility, just south of Port Arthur, Texas. Beard is a retired refinery worker who first challenged the Port Arthur LNG emissions permit.]()
Credit: James Bruggers/Inside Climate News -
Federal judge seems wary of Texas ban on TikTok at public universities
Last year, Texas joined more than 30 other states in banning TikTok on government-issued cell phones and computers. A nationwide coalition of professors are suing the state over the ban, arguing it has limited their ability to teach and research the social media app. Full Story
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![Students walk through campus at the University of Texas at Dallas on Aug. 27, 2021.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
Texas appeals court weighing whether state bar can discipline Ken Paxton for challenging 2020 presidential election
The legal battle stems from the attorney general’s unsuccessful 2020 lawsuit that leaned heavily on discredited claims of election fraud in other states. Paxton’s lawyers argue that the bar’s lawsuit is an attempt to control how he runs his office. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton steps to the podium to make a statement to the press on May 26, 2023, a day before a scheduled impeachment vote. Behind him, from left: Tommy Tran, executive assistant; James R. Lloyd, associate deputy attorney general for civil litigation; Austin A. Kinghorn, associate deputy attorney general for legal counsel; Ryan Fisher, director of government relations; Joshua Reno, deputy attorney general for criminal justice; and Suzanna Hupp, special adviser.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
More women join lawsuit challenging Texas’ abortion laws
Twenty women are challenging the state’s abortion laws, saying they were unable to get the health care they needed for their medically complex pregnancies. Full Story
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![Kimberly Manzano, a new plaintiff joining nine women in a lawsuit against the state of Texas’s abortion ban, poses for portrait at a park in McKinney, TX on November 11, 2023. Manzano had a fatal fetal diagnosis and had to travel out of state to New Mexico for an abortion.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
Ken Paxton names administrative law expert with conservative bona fides Texas’ solicitor general
Aaron Nielson will take a one-year leave of absence from BYU’s law school to lead the influential unit within the attorney general’s office. Full Story
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![Aaron Nielson has been appointed Solicitor General by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.]()
Credit: Brigham Young University -
Judge upholds 2022 Harris County election results, throws out most GOP lawsuits
The judge found that Harris County’s elections office made mistakes and violated the state’s Election Code — but that didn’t affect the outcomes of several 2022 races. He also tossed all but one Republican lawsuit challenging the results. Full Story
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![Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth speaks to the media during a press conference about the upcoming Harris County elections, Friday, Oct. 20, 2023, in Houston.]()
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Texas executes Brent Brewer, who spent three decades on death row, for murder of Amarillo man
Brewer lost a clemency appeal earlier this week, despite one of his jurors pleading that his life be spared and an expert witness’ methods put into question. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to pause Brewer’s execution Thursday afternoon to hear arguments about the “junk science” used against him. Full Story
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![A still of Brent Brewer from a video provided by his attorneys.]()
Credit: Courtesy of Attorneys for Brent Brewer -
Nate Paul, the businessman at the center of Ken Paxton’s impeachment, charged with four new federal crimes
During the impeachment trial, whistleblowers testified they believed Paul to be a criminal and were concerned that Paxton was essentially turning the keys of the office over to him. Full Story
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![Nate Paul is the CEO of World Class, a real estate holding company.]()
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Texas voters reject proposal to increase judges’ retirement ages
Texans soundly defeated a constitutional amendment that would have let judges stay on the bench longer. Proposition 13 would have increased the minimum retirement age from 70 to 75 and the mandatory retirement age from 75 to 79. Full Story
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![The county courtroom in the Camp County Court House in Pittsburg on June 21, 2023.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Texas voters gave retired teachers raises and approved new infrastructure funds as most constitutional amendments passed
Voters approved a massive property tax cut and several other measures, but refused to raise the mandatory retirement age for judges. Full Story
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![The Texas Capitol at sunrise on Tuesday, June 6, in Austin, Texas.]()
Credit: Joe Timmerman/The Texas Tribune