Texas Redistricting: The San Antonio court entered an order this afternoon setting a hearing for May 29 at 9 a.m. to decide what to do with the Texas maps – or, more exactly, to decide how to decide what to do. The order acknowledged that the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby Co. would “affect the final [...]
Posts under ‘Legal matters’
Everybody sues the EPA
The state of Texas and our pollution-loving Attorney General do it because they think the EPA does too much to protect us from harm. Some other groups do it because they think the EPA isn’t doing enough. In the suit filed on Thursday, Air Alliance Houston and three other groups accuse the U.S. Environmental Protection [...]
Hotze sues Obamacare
You would think that once the Supreme Court ruled that the Affordable Care Act was constitutional that that would settle things, but then you would not be Steve Hotze. Steve Hotze, a Houston-area physician and major Republican campaign donor who has built his career around alternative medicine, says he is filing suit against the federal [...]
Cities generally ignore Abbott’s domestic partnership opinion
Good for them. Attorney General Greg Abbott’s opinion [last] week, while not binding, is the latest of several challenges to same-sex benefits across the country that so far have had mixed results in the courts and prompted changes after officials in other states took action. In Texas, local governments from El Paso to San Antonio [...]
Texas versus EPA, round one zillion
The desire to coddle polluters is strong in this one. A Texas-led coalition of energy-producing states has asked the Supreme Court to hear a case involving the Obama administration’s efforts to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases. The petition, which was filed last week, comes 10 months after a three-judge panel of [...]
Abbott opines against domestic partnership benefits
This should not come as a surprise to anyone. The state Constitution prohibits government entities from recognizing domestic partnerships and offering insurance benefits to those couples, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott wrote in an opinion on Monday. In the nonbinding opinion, Abbott determined that local jurisdictions that offer such benefits “have created and recognized something” [...]
“One person, one vote” upheld
More accurately, a challenge to the constitutional doctrine of “one person, one vote” was dismissed by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has rejected a conservative challenge to the common practice of counting everyone, not just U.S. citizens, when adjusting the size of voting districts across the nation. Without comment, the justices let stand a [...]
Advising the court on redistricting
Last Friday, all parties to the Texas redistricting lawsuit submitted their advisories to the San Antonio court, in which they told the court what they think it should do once the Supreme Court has rendered a decision on the Voting Rights Act. You can see what they all had to say there, or you can [...]
Abbott asks for the interim maps
Very interesting. The recently dormant Texas redistricting issue woke up Thursday with a disagreement between the state’s attorney general and a Latino legislators’ group. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has called on the Legislature to make the current — and interim — redistricting maps permanent. Abbott’s letter to Texas House Speaker Joe Straus — which [...]
SCOTUS same-sex marriage cases likely won’t affect Texas
Not yet, anyway. But it’s a matter of time. Charles “Rocky” Rhodes is a professor at South Texas College of Law. He says the case that involves the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, is narrowly focused. “The provision of DOMA that’s under challenge here is the aspect of DOMA that prohibits the federal government [...]
Lawsuit against anti-feeding ordinance dropped
From last week: The plaintiffs suing the city of Houston over its charitable feeding ordinance have abruptly dropped a suit they filed over the issue, just hours after the judge in the case recused himself. The ordinance, which requires property owners’ advance written permission for the charitable feeding of more than five people, was one [...]
In case you didn’t have enough Supreme Court business to worry about
Here’s Texas Redistricting to give you more to worry about, in the form of Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona. Although the case has gotten far less attention than challenges to the constitutionality of section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, it could profoundly reshape the power of the federal government to regulate elections [...]
More time for redistricting advisories
Texas Redistricting: The San Antonio court entered an order late Thursday afternoon extending the time for parties to file map advisories through March 22 and the deadline for responses through April 5. The original deadline for the advisories had been today. The extension came at the request of the Texas Latino Redistricting Task Force, which said [...]
Austin bag ban lawsuit filed
This bears watching. The Texas Retailers Association is suing the city of Austin over a disposable bag ban set to take effect [today], saying the ban violates state law and should be tossed out. The ban will prohibit all Austin retailers from offering thin, so-called single-use paper and plastic bags at checkout counters. [...] The [...]
Is Section 5 doomed?
While there’s been a lot of reporting and analysis suggesting a grim future for the Voting Rights Act, SCOTUSBlog’s Lyle Denniston suggests that maybe, just maybe, Section 5 ain’t dead yet. Sometimes, in Supreme Court argument, a single phrase can speak volumes. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, the one member of the Court who bore the [...]
Houston loses air pollution permit lawsuit
Bummer. The Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that Houston may not effectively void a state air pollution permit. The justices agreed with Southern Crushed Concrete that Houston’s 2007 law restricting the location of concrete-crushing facilities violates state statute by nullifying a permit issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. In reversing an appeals court [...]
How should the San Antonio court proceed after SCOTUS rules on Section 5?
That’s what the San Antonio judges in the redistricting case asked the parties to help it figure out. In its order, the court told parties what has been widely assumed – namely that the panel would “not issue any opinion, if at all, under after the Supreme Court resolves the Section 5 matters.” However, the [...]
Single member districts for Farmers Branch
Another long battle comes to an end. A Dallas federal judge has directed Farmers Branch to implement single-member City Council districts after the U.S. Justice Department signed off on the city’s proposed map. The move could set the stage for a fiery May 11 election in which the outcome may provide the suburb of 29,000 [...]
This time it’s different
Why is this school finance ruling different from all other school finance rulings? For one thing, it was way more comprehensive. The changes needed to correct the constitutional violations [Judge John] Dietz identified could comprise the most far-reaching overhaul of education policy the state has enacted in more than 40 years, said Lynn Moak, a [...]
School finance system ruled unconstitutional
Surely no one is surprised by this. The system Texas uses to fund public schools violates the state’s constitution by not providing enough money and failing to distribute the money in a fair way, a judge ruled Monday in a landmark decision that could force the Legislature to overhaul the way it pays for education. [...]
County settles with Treasures
It’s over, at least for now. When city of Houston lawyers settled a public nuisance lawsuit against Treasures last December, Harris County attorneys continued to pursue the jointly filed case, saying they needed more assurances from the strip club that it would operate above board. Under a late-Monday settlement with the club, however, county attorneys [...]
Another setback for open beaches
At this rate, the concept of “open beaches” is on its way to becoming an anachronism. The Texas Supreme Court dealt another blow Friday to the Texas Open Beaches Act in a case pitting beachfront property owners against the city of Surfside. The court overturned an appeals court ruling upholding Surfside’s refusal to permit repairs [...]
Looks like we’ll be waiting on SCOTUS for awhile
Texas Redistricting: The Texas redistricting appeal wasn’t on the list of cases reviewed by the Justices at their screening conference today. With the passage of time – and the case not even being listed for review – the calendar now makes it highly unlikely that the court could take up the case even if it [...]
No injunction in state lawsuit for Planned Parenthood
Bummer. Travis County District Judge Stephen Yelenosky on Friday refused to grant Planned Parenthood’s request for a temporary injunction to be included in the Texas Women’s Health Program. “Probable injury is not really sufficient,” said Yelenosky, who ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood at a hearing in December, “… because it is unlikely that the [...]
SCOTUS has not taken up the Texas redistricting lawsuit yet
Texas Redistricting: No decision announced [Friday at the Supreme Court about whether the court will hear the Texas redistricting case. The court, however, could issue additional orders on Monday. The Justices haven’t had these briefs for long, so it’s not surprising they haven’t taken action yet. They have conferences on January 11 and 18, and [...]
Yet another Planned Parenthood ruling coming today
Today is the last day that federal money will be sent to Texas for the Women’s Health Program – it officially gets cut off on January 1. The state tried and failed to get an injunction forcing the feds to keep the spigot open even as it barred Planned Parenthood from participating. For its part, [...]
State fails to get injunction against terminating Womens Health Program funds
As you know, last year the Lege passed a law that forbade Planned Parenthood from participating in the Women’s Health Program on the grounds that PP does abortions even though none of the PP clinics that participate in the Women’s Health Program perform abortions – they’re in a separate organization all together. The federal government [...]
Three things in life are certain
Death, taxes, and Bruce Hotze filing a lawsuit every time he loses an election. A local anti-tax activist filed a lawsuit Thursday to block the city of Houston from borrowing $410 million to add, expand and repair parks, libraries, police and fire stations and other government buildings. Bruce Hotze’s suit says the bond measures, which [...]
Student RFID case in federal court
Good luck sorting it all out, Your Honor. Because she has a religious objection to Northside Independent School District’s new student tracking system, Andrea Hernandez and her father testified in federal court Monday, she should not be transferred to another school for refusing to carry a student I.D. badge. Hernandez, 15, a sophomore in a [...]
SCOTUS voter ID update
The matter is officially with the Supreme Court now. A federal court deferred further proceedings in a lawsuit filed by Texas over the state’s voter identification law until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on whether part of the Voting Rights Act is constitutional. A three-judge panel in Washington said today that “in the interest of [...]
Where redistricting stands with SCOTUS
From Texas Redistricting: What happens now in the Supreme Court? With the filing of motions to affirm or dismiss last week by the Justice Department and intervenors, Texas’ appeal of the preclearance ruling is now ready for review by the Justices. Under Rule 18 of the Supreme Court rules, the clerk of the Supreme Court [...]
Planned Parenthood files another lawsuit
Keeping the heat on the state. As a tumultuous year in women’s health draws to a close, Planned Parenthood is turning up the heat on Texas, today filing a new lawsuit that challenge the state’s move to ban the nonprofit from participation in a state-run and funded Texas Women’s Health Program. While previous lawsuits have [...]
What will Doggett do?
Does Rep. Lloyd Doggett want his old district back or not? The congressional and legislative districts used in this year’s elections were temporary maps drawn by panel of federal judges in San Antonio. The maps were designed to be used this year, while the courts continued to sort out various legal challenges to maps drawn [...]
Is there more redistricting for Texas in the cards?
The short answer is it depends. For the most part, Republicans are content to keep the interim map used for the 2012 elections — if the courts allow it. “I don’t sense a lot of anxiousness from either the state or congressional side to open back up congressional redistricting,” said Chris Perkins, a GOP pollster [...]