The latest courts news from The Texas Tribune.
State police often rely on federal immigration officials to lock up migrants on state trespassing charges, according to a new complaint by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. The collaboration contradicts federal and Texas officials’ attacks on each other’s immigration policies. Full Story
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A handful of the Texas-based conspiracy theorist’s companies already filed for bankruptcy. Earlier this year, a Texas jury awarded Sandy Hook parents $49 million in a defamation case against Jones. Full Story
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More than 16 million people had already been approved for student loan debt relief by the Education Department when a federal judge in North Texas struck down the plan last month. Full Story
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The district judge has asked the embattled district attorney, who resigned Monday, to appear in court Thursday or risk being arrested. Full Story
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The 20-year-old Fort Hood soldier’s murder prompted nationwide outrage and calls to reform the way the military addresses sexual violence within its ranks. Full Story
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The Biden administration instructed immigration agents to focus on deporting undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of felonies or pose a danger to public safety. Texas filed a lawsuit saying the change was illegal. Full Story
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The lawsuit accuses Daniel Defense, the manufacturer of the shooter’s weapon, of marketing that primes “young buyers to purchase AR-15-style rifles as soon as they are legally able.” Full Story
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In response to the open-ended strike, the McClatchy-owned newspaper has revoked their health care benefits and listed their jobs. Full Story
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Former DFPS commissioner Anne Heiligenstein was tapped by Abbott in June to serve as the agency’s executive deputy commissioner. Last month, she was out. Now she’s back. Full Story
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The judge opted not to apply a $750,000 cap Texas imposes on punitive damages, questioning its constitutionality and saying Jones had “done something horrible” in claiming the shooting was faked. Full Story
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After a last-minute challenge from the attorney general, county commissioners agreed to certify those provisional votes in time for the canvassing deadline. Full Story
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A court ordered Harris County to keep its polls open late on Election Day, but Attorney General Ken Paxton is asking the state Supreme Court to not allow ballots cast after normal deadline to count. Full Story
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This probe is part of the state’s wider investigation into FTX’s multibillion-dollar bankruptcy. Full Story
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Title 42 was invoked early in the pandemic by the Trump administration and continued under President Joe Biden. Since then, immigration officials have used it more than 2 million times to turn away asylum-seekers at the border. Full Story
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U.S. District Judge David Counts signed another opinion Thursday that cited a lack of historical record on laws relating to domestic violence to justify disarming abusers. Advocates fear the ruling will put more victims in harm’s way. Full Story
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A federal judge in North Texas has struck down the loan forgiveness program President Joe Biden unveiled in August, citing a failure to provide borrowers with an opportunity for public comment. Full Story
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The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a lawsuit challenging the preferences Native American families and tribes are given under the Indian Child Welfare Act. Full Story
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In conservative Kansas and Kentucky, voters turned out in droves and crossed party lines to support abortion access. In Texas — where candidates, not issues, were on the ballot — there was no such surge in support. Full Story
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Three seats were up for election in the Texas Supreme Court, which handles civil cases, and three in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Democrats haven’t been elected to either court since the late 1990s. Full Story
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Voters in Denton, San Marcos, Killeen, Elgin and Harker Heights overwhelmingly supported the local ballot propositions to decriminalize low-level possession. These moves followed Austin voters’ similar decision in May. Full Story
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