The latest courts news from The Texas Tribune.
The justice struck down a Texas-led challenge to the Affordable Care Act, wrote the majority opinion in a ruling that stopped abortion restrictions in 2013 and was the swing vote in a case that helped keep a Texas Capitol monument inscribed with the Ten Commandments. Full Story
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Republicans from Gov. Greg Abbott on down are pressuring the all-GOP Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to reverse a December ruling that gutted the attorney general’s power to go after election cases on his own. Full Story
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With less than five weeks left in the primary election season, there is no shortage of political issues to debate. But most of the political conversation isn’t about the election. Full Story
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A legal defense group is asking Travis County courts to throw out the arrests of hundreds of migrants swept up in the governor’s border initiative. The case is expected to draw in the Texas attorney general and address whether Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan is unconstitutional. Full Story
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The case is currently before the Texas Supreme Court. Abortion providers were hoping the U.S. Supreme Court would reroute the case into federal district court, where a judge had previously blocked the law. Full Story
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An FBI spokesperson said the agency was present on two streets around Cuellar’s house in Laredo “conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity.” Full Story
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Justices on Wednesday heard the Republican senator’s challenge to a federal campaign finance law that the federal government says is meant to prevent corruption. Full Story
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The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision means it could take months before abortion providers’ challenge to the restrictive law returns to a federal court. Full Story
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Some of the same voting debates underway when Martin Luther King Jr. was alive are still being debated right now in Texas and in Washington, D.C. Full Story
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The Travis County district attorney, a Democrat, says the Republican attorney general has four days to provide communications, multiple Texas news outlets first reported. Full Story
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Attorney General Ken Paxton is seeking to claw back Medicaid payments made during the three years that Planned Parenthood was fighting in court to remain as a qualified health care provider. Full Story
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As Texas’ long-running struggle to find enough placements for foster care children persists, more than 100 kids were sent out of state last year. Full Story
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The State Commission on Judicial Conduct had admonished Eckhardt in 2020 for her actions as Travis County judge. Full Story
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A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Biden administration’s mandate that requires federal employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The Department of Justice is appealing the decision. Full Story
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Challenges to new Texas laws on voting, political districts and abortion are all pending in court, as is the state’s challenge to federal vaccine mandates. But until the courts rule, those laws remain in place — and they provide political fodder for the incumbents who support them. Full Story
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Lawyers for abortion providers argue the case should go to federal district court rather than the Texas Supreme Court, which could take months to issue a ruling. Full Story
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In December, the U.S. Supreme Court left the law largely intact, allowing only a challenge against medical licensing officials to proceed. An appeals court will now consider whether to send the case to the Texas Supreme Court. Full Story
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The new year comes with a new election — and with familiar challenges to the way Texans vote and have their votes counted. Full Story
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The state has already challenged the federal government’s vaccine orders for big businesses, health care workers and federal contractors. Full Story
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Lawyers for the providers argue that the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should send the challenge against Texas’ Senate Bill 8 to district court, which in October temporarily blocked enforcement of the law. Full Story
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