Texas, Idaho abortion bans test against federal emergency medicine rule
Hospitals are required to stabilize anyone experiencing a medical emergency. Two lawsuits question whether that includes performing an abortion, despite state laws. Full Story
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![An Austin-Travis County EMS unit parked near a hospital's emergency entrance in Austin on July 7, 2020.]()
Credit: Allie Goulding/The Texas Tribune -
Texas Republicans urge Senate Democrats to give Mayorkas a full impeachment trial
Two Texans are among 11 House impeachment managers initiating a trial of the Homeland Security secretary in the Senate. Full Story
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![U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, right, listens as President Joe Biden receives a briefing from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, USCIS and ICE during a visit to Brownsville on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
A Texas landowner can sue the state for flood damage to his property, U.S. Supreme Court rules
Richie DeVillier, who owns land east of Houston, said the state owes him damages for constant flooding after Texas made changes to Interstate 10 near his property. Full Story
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![An abandoned car sits in floodwaters in a residential neighborhood in Beaumont September 5, 2017, 11 days days after Hurricane Harvey ravaged the Texas Coast. Thousands of residents continue to live in shelters almost two weeks after the storm.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune. -
State district judge recommends overturning Melissa Lucio’s death sentence
In a rare joint statement, the district attorney and the defense agreed that prosecutors withheld evidence that could point to a Rio Grande Valley woman’s innocence in the death of her toddler. Full Story
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![Melissa Lucio was convicted and sentenced to death in 2008 for the murder of her her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah Alvarez.]()
Credit: Courtesy of Melissa Lucio's attorneys -
Appeals court blocks $100,000 daily fine for Texas’ troubled foster care program
Jack’s order to fine Texas Health and Human Services on Monday was the third time the state has been found in contempt over foster care conditions since 2011. Full Story
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![U.S. District Judge Janis Jack administers the U.S. oath of citizenship to more than 100 area residents representing 25 countries in 2008 aboard the USS Lexington. Jack was the first woman federal judge to serve in Texas south of San Antonio. July 5, 2008.]()
Credit: Courtesy of Todd Yates/Corpus Christi Caller-Times -
With an eye on Amarillo courthouse, U.S. senators push to stop federal judge shopping
Judge shopping has made a federal courthouse in Amarillo with a Trump-appointed judge a destination for conservative litigants challenging Biden administration policies. Full Story
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![In a still image from a video, Matthew Kacsmaryk, deputy counsel for the First Liberty Institute, answers questions during his nomination hearing by the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 13, 2017.]()
Credit: Pool via REUTERS -
Ted Cruz faces campaign finance complaint over podcast deal
End Citizens United and the Campaign Legal Center asserted Cruz could have broken campaign finance rules. Full Story
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![U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz speaks about the Border Bill during a press conference at the Senate Radio/Capitol Hill in Washington on Feb. 6, 2024.]()
Credit: Lenin Nolly/NurPhoto via REUTERS -
How Texas teens lost the one program that allowed birth control without parental consent
Federal Title X clinics do not require parental consent for birth control — except in Texas, where a lawsuit upended the longstanding program. Full Story
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![Various birth control pills available at a Planned Parenthood in Austin.]()
Credit: Todd Wiseman/The Texas Tribune -
Texas Supreme Court justice implies Democrats will cheat in 2024 election
Justice John Devine’s comments at a conservative event are the latest to prompt concerns about his impartiality as a jurist. Full Story
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![Texas Supreme Court Justice John Devine, far left, with fellow judges on the House floor in Austin in 2013.]()
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Texas, Biden administration take their battle over new immigration law to federal appeals court
A panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will decide whether to keep in place a lower court’s block of Senate Bill 4, which makes illegally entering Texas a state crime. Full Story
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![Texas Department of Public Safety officers patrol along the border wall after the U.S. Supreme Court let a Republican-backed Texas law known as SB 4 take effect, allowing state law enforcement authorities to arrest people suspected of crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, in El Paso on March 19, 2024.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Justin Hamel -
Texas appeals court overturns Crystal Mason’s conviction, 5-year sentence for illegal voting
Mason gained national attention after she was convicted for voting while under supervised release for felony tax fraud. She said she didn’t know she was ineligible to vote. Full Story
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![Crystal Mason in Fort Worth on Sept. 9, 2019.]()
Credit: Leslie Boorhem-Stephenson for The Texas Tribune -
Once the Texas GOP’s “weak link,” Attorney General Ken Paxton is growing more popular and powerful
With his impeachment and securities fraud case behind him, Paxton’s political stock is on the rise. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton endorses David Covey at an event in Beaumont on Monday, Jan 15, 2024. Covey is running against House Speaker Dade Phelan in the Republican primary.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
Texas criminal appeals court takes man off death row over intellectual disability
Since Randall Mays was sentenced to death in 2008 for the murder of two sheriff’s deputies, his lawyers have argued his intellectual disability exempts him from execution. Full Story
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![Guard towers are located around the Polunsky Unit on Jan. 31, 2024.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
Appeals court keeps Texas’ migrant arrest law on hold
The order prevents Texas from arresting and deporting migrants suspected of illegally entering the U.S. while the case challenging the law is under consideration. Full Story
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![Texas Department of Public Safety troopers pull migrants from under concertina wire after they crossed the Rio Grande River from Mexico into Eagle Pass, on July 27, 2023.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Adrees Latif -
Montgomery County directs citizen board to review, and potentially remove, library books
The county north of Houston adopted the guidelines amid a growing number of book bans in school districts and a new state law that supporters claim protects children from inappropriate material. Full Story
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![Books at Vandegrift High School's library on March 2, 2022.]()
Credit: Lauren Witte/The Texas Tribune -
Legal experts say it’s rare to pursue jail time in securities fraud cases like Paxton’s
In 2015, Attorney General Ken Paxton was indicted on three securities fraud felony charges. Experts in securities fraud say those charges are rarely pursued. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton talks with his team in the 185th Criminal District court at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center before his pretrial hearing March 26, 2024, in Houston.]()
Credit: Danielle Villasana for The Texas Tribune -
Ken Paxton agrees to community service, paying restitution to avoid trial in securities fraud case
Paxton, who will not have to enter a plea under the terms of the agreement, faced the prospect of decades in prison if he had been convicted of fraud. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton enters the 185th Criminal District court at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center for his pretrial hearing March 26, 2024, in Houston.]()
Credit: Danielle Villasana for The Texas Tribune -
U.S. Supreme Court takes up Texas case challenging abortion pill access
A majority of Supreme Court justices seemed open to keeping mifepristone, a common abortion-inducing drug, on the market despite a Texas ruling revoking its FDA approval. Full Story
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![People visit the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on March 10, 2022.]()
Credit: Eric Lee for the Texas Tribune -
Feds arrest five men accused of smuggling illegally purchased guns to cartels in Mexico
The men were charged with two criminal offenses, including straw purchasing of firearms, created by the 2022 bipartisan gun safety bill authored by Sen. John Cornyn. Full Story
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![A Springfield Saint Victor AR-15 rifle is displayed during the National Rifle Association annual convention in Houston on May 27, 2022.]()
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Attorney General Ken Paxton’s securities fraud charges could be dropped under deal, according to report
Paxton has been fighting securities fraud felony charges for nearly nine years. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton leaves the courtroom after appearing for the eight-year-old felony securities fraud case against him at Harris County Courthouse on Aug. 3, 2023, in Houston.]()
Credit: Reginald Mathalone/NurPhoto via REUTERS