Tag Archives: SCOTUS

SCOTUS leaves Texas anti-EMTALA ruling in place

Posted on October 8, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Another reminder of what the stakes are this election, in case you needed it. The Supreme Court on Monday refused to require doctors in Texas to perform certain emergency abortions when the procedure would conflict with the state’s strict abortion … Continue reading →

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Court reform has to be about more than just SCOTUS

Posted on September 29, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Exhibit A. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton returned to court on Thursday to press his case against the Biden administration’s workforce protections for transgender employees. Texas’s lawsuit, filed in federal court on Thursday against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and … Continue reading →

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Ted Cruz votes against protecting IVF access

Posted on September 20, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

It’s right there in the headline. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz on Tuesday led the effort to block a bill by Senate Democrats that they said would protect in-vitro fertilization in America. But on the Senate floor, Cruz blasted the Democratic … Continue reading →

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Spring Branch ISD single member district lawsuit trial concludes

Posted on September 17, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Now we wait. The federal trial between Spring Branch ISD and a parent alleging the district violated the Voting Rights Act sheds light on what the plaintiffs characterized as vast inequities fueled by a lack of elected representation from the … Continue reading →

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SCOTx hears Brent Webster’s disciplinary lawsuit appeal

Posted on September 14, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I dunno, this seems awfully straightforward to me. But no one asked me. Some Texas Supreme Court justices seemed skeptical Thursday of a professional misconduct case against a top aide to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for his role in … Continue reading →

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More on the Amarillo Reproductive Freedom Alliance

Posted on September 14, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Good overview of the group working to prevent an abortion travel ban in Amarillo. Dubbed an “abortion trafficking” ban by anti-abortion extremists—as one of the policy’s progenitors put it, “The unborn child is always taken against their will”—the zealous measure … Continue reading →

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Trial begins in Spring Branch ISD single member district lawsuit

Posted on September 11, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Another big case in court this week. A lawsuit against Spring Branch ISD got its day in court Monday, after three years floating in the legal ether waiting for rulings from similar cases to play out. The suit, filed by … Continue reading →

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Paxton sues to block rule protecting abortion information

Posted on September 9, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I feel like this should be bigger news. Texas sued the Biden administration in an effort to block a new rule that seeks to protect the privacy of women living in states that ban abortion who travel out of state … Continue reading →

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Texas SCOPE Act partially blocked

Posted on September 5, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

One of the many Internet/social media-related laws passed in the last legislative session(s) has been partially put on hold by a federal judge. A handful of new laws went into effect Sunday, including the Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment … Continue reading →

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The current state of voter purging

Posted on August 30, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

We’ll start here, and there’s a lot to unpack. Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday announced that the state has removed over 1 million names from the Texas voter rolls, mainly people who moved out of state or died but including … Continue reading →

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Council sends Whitmire’s anti-protest ordinance to committee

Posted on August 15, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Good, but until he backs down it’s not good enough. Houston City Council tabled Mayor John Whitmire’s proposal to ban targeted protests near residential homes after fierce opposition from pro-Palestine groups, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and others … Continue reading →

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Another complaint filed over abortion denial

Posted on August 14, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Not a lawsuit but a federal complaint about improper emergency care. Two women have filed complaints with the federal government alleging that Texas hospitals denied them abortion care necessary to treat their ectopic pregnancies. The complaints were filed August 6 … Continue reading →

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News flash: Ted Cruz is extremely anti-abortion

Posted on August 12, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Let’s cut to the chase here, shall we? Texas Democrats are making abortion rights a major campaign issue after Republicans in the state banned the procedure, and U.S. Rep. Colin Allred is casting Ted Cruz’s views as “extreme” in his … Continue reading →

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Full Fifth Circuit overturns Galveston redistricting ruling

Posted on August 5, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Terrible. They’re just making this shit up as they go. Distinct minority groups cannot join together in coalitions to claim their votes are diluted in redistricting cases under the Voting Rights Act, a divided federal appeals court ruled Thursday, acknowledging … Continue reading →

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Lawsuit filed over another social media law

Posted on August 4, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

We’re going to be litigating this past legislative session for a long time. Two tech industry groups, the Computer and Communications Industry Association and NetChoice, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to block a new Texas law that would require platforms … Continue reading →

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Leave the protesters alone

Posted on August 1, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t agree with this. Mayor John Whitmire is proposing a ban on the targeted picketing of any residential dwelling in Houston after months of pro-Palestininian protests in front of his own house. Protesting in front of public officials’ homes … Continue reading →

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Women affected by the abortion ban banding together

Posted on July 24, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

This story is equal parts heartwarming and rage-inducing. One morning last spring, Hollie Cunningham’s father was drinking coffee and watching “Good Morning America” on his patio when he saw Austin Dennard, a Dallas-area OB-GYN, on the screen. Through tears, Dennard … Continue reading →

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More on the infant mortality study

Posted on July 10, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Mother Jones takes a closer look at a recent study that showed a significant increase in infant mortality in Texas since the passage of SB8 in 2021. Since then, as wave after wave of post-Dobbs abortion restrictions have been enacted … Continue reading →

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Amarillo to vote on abortion travel ban

Posted on July 6, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I sure hope the opposition to this gets all the support it needs. Amarillo residents will vote on a so-called abortion travel ban in November, one of the few times Texas voters will have a say on abortion since Roe … Continue reading →

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SCOTUS to hear appeal of Texas’ anti-porn law

Posted on July 5, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

The hits are already coming. The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will consider a challenge to a Texas law that requires pornographic websites to verify the ages of their visitors. The dispute centers around Texas House Bill 1181, which … Continue reading →

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Future doctor shortage update

Posted on July 3, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Still going in a worrying direction. According to new statistics from the Association of American Medical Colleges, for the second year in a row, students graduating from U.S. medical schools were less likely to apply this year for residency positions … Continue reading →

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SCOTUS keeps Texas’ stupid social media censorship law blocked

Posted on July 2, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

The US Supreme Court did an awful lot of Very Bad Things this past week. You don’t need me to get into that, the entire Internet is screaming about it, with much justification. They also did at least one not … Continue reading →

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Lawsuit filed over Angleton ISD at large districts

Posted on July 1, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Add this one to the list. A lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges that Angleton ISD is violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by denying fair representation to Hispanic voters by using an at-large system to elect all of its trustees. … Continue reading →

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Anti-gay Waco JP gets her lawsuit reinstated

Posted on June 30, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Boy, the State Supreme Court sure had a banner day on Friday. The state’s highest court ruled Friday that a Waco judge who had refused to officiate same-sex marriages had a right to sue the State Commission on Judicial Conduct … Continue reading →

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State Supreme Court upholds gender affirming care ban

Posted on June 29, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Can’t say I’m surprised. Hugely disappointed, but not surprised. The Texas Supreme Court upheld a recent state law that prohibits doctors from prescribing gender-affirming care to transgender minors after parents and medical professionals challenged the constitutionality of the restriction. Justice … Continue reading →

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The leaked EMTALA draft is not a victory

Posted on June 27, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

This hit the internet like a thunderstorm yesterday. The US Supreme Court is poised to allow abortions in medical emergencies in Idaho, according to a copy of an opinion that was briefly posted on the court’s website. The decision would … Continue reading →

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“Five abortions a month”

Posted on June 26, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

A stark headline from the Trib. In the last two years, Texas abortion clinics closed, legal challenges raced through the court system, towns tried to ban out-of-state travel, conservative activists made abortion pills and emergency rooms into battlegrounds, and woman … Continue reading →

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SCOTUS to hear gender affirming care appeal

Posted on June 25, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Buckle up, this is a big one. The Supreme Court has agreed to take up the question of whether gender-affirming care bans for transgender youth are unconstitutional, in response to the Biden administration petitioning on behalf of trans youth and … Continue reading →

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SCOTx declines to take up IVF appeal

Posted on June 17, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

A small victory. The Texas Supreme Court has declined to take up a major in vitro fertilization case that could have potentially upended access to the procedure. The justices allowed a lower court’s opinion to stand, and, for now, sidestepped … Continue reading →

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Federal judge strikes down Florida laws against gender-affirming care for minors and adults

Posted on June 17, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Of interest, for obvious reasons. Florida can no longer enforce its ban against transgender youth receiving gender-affirming care, or its restrictions against adults accessing gender-affirming care, after a federal district court ruling on Tuesday found those rules to be unconstitutional … Continue reading →

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SCOTUS swats away that bogus mifepristone case

Posted on June 14, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

A good and expected result, though the door for future challenges remains open. A unanimous Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the anti-abortion doctor plaintiffs in a major mifepristone case lack standing to reimpose restrictions on the drug. The case presented … Continue reading →

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All Texas Republicans vote against bill to protect contraception

Posted on June 8, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

The headline speaks for itself. The U.S. House passed a bill Thursday that would prevent states from banning birth control, though nearly the entire Republican delegation from Texas voted against it. The bill, which faces far more hurdles passing through … Continue reading →

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Paxton asks SCOTx to dismiss the disciplinary lawsuit against him

Posted on June 6, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I’m just surprised it took him this long. State Attorney General Ken Paxton is asking the Texas Supreme Court to reverse an appeals court ruling that kept active a disciplinary proceeding and potential future punishment for his effort to overturn … Continue reading →

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SCOTx upholds abortion ban in Zurawski lawsuit

Posted on June 1, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t know if the Supreme Court intended to bury the news of this stinker of a ruling on a Friday, but boy howdy if that was their intent did they ever pick the right Friday to do it on. … Continue reading →

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