Courts 14
Texas schools can again set their own face mask rules after federal judge overrules Gov. Greg Abbott's ban
BY BRIAN LOPEZ at The Texas Tribune, NOV. 10, 2021 Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order prohibiting mask mandates in schools violates the Americans with Disabilities Act — freeing local officials to
U.S. Supreme Court justices appear reluctant to loosen restrictions on religious advisers during Texas executions
BY JOLIE MCCULLOUGH NOV. 9, 2021 Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. The U.S. Supreme Court debated Tuesday whether the pastor of a Texas prisoner should be able to touch or audibly pray over him as the prisoner is executed. The justices largely
U.S. Supreme Court weighs religion’s place in the Texas death chamber
BY JOLIE MCCULLOUGH at The Texas Tribune, NOV. 9, 2021 Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Tuesday on the religious rights of those condemned to die in Texas. The justices, who have taken a
Delta-8 is legal in Texas — for now — after Travis County judge blocks state from criminalizing the cannabis extract
BY KEVIN REYNOLDS at The Texas Tribune, NOV. 8, 2021 Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. Delta-8, the popular cannabis extract that was recently and suddenly outlawed in Texas, is temporarily legal again. State district court Judge Jan Soifer on Monday granted
Justice Department sues Texas over new voting law, targeting restrictions on mail-in ballots and voter assistance
BY CASSANDRA POLLOCK at The Texas Tribune, NOV. 4, 2021 Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. Disabled, elderly and non-English speaking voters risk disenfranchisement under Texas’ new voting law passed by the GOP-controlled Legislature earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice claims
In latest blunder, charges dropped against migrants arrested in Texas governor’s border crackdown because of faulty paperwork
BY JOLIE MCCULLOUGH at The Texas Tribune, NOV. 4, 2021 Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. Trespassing charges filed against dozens of migrants arrested under Gov. Greg Abbott’s “catch and jail” border security initiative were dropped last week because court documents filed by
Texas’ new House map challenged in state court, expanding redistricting fight
BY ALEXA URA at The Texas Tribune, NOV. 3, 2021 Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. Opening a second front in widening legal wars over redistricting, a coalition of mostly Hispanic, Democratic members of the Texas House filed suit in state court Wednesday
Abortion providers and gun rights advocates are “strange bedfellows” in fight to strike down Texas’ new abortion law
BY REESE OXNER AND JAMES BARRAGÁN at The Texas Tribune, NOV. 2, 2021 Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. Abortion-rights advocates have found an unexpected ally in their fight to overturn Texas’ controversial abortion law: gun rights advocates, fearful that the same novel mechanism employed
Here’s what U.S. Supreme Court justices had to say about Texas’ abortion law
BY REESE OXNER at The Texas Tribune, NOV. 1, 2021 Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. The U.S. Supreme Court took up Texas’ restrictive new abortion law Monday, two months after it went into effect. The justices questioned attorneys representing abortion providers, Texas
“A pivotal day”: Texas abortion law’s Supreme Court hearings spur hope for some, fear for others
BY ABBY LIVINGSTON AND BETHANY IRVINE at The Texas Tribune, NOV. 1, 2021 Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. Editor’s note: This story contains explicit language. WASHINGTON — The dividing line in front of the U.S. Supreme Court was both invisible and unmissable. It extended
Rejecting claims of innocence, judge says Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed should not get a new trial
BY JOLIE MCCULLOUGH at The Texas Tribune, NOV. 1, 2021 Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. BASTROP — More than two decades after Rodney Reed was sentenced to death for the murder of 19-year-old Stacey Stites, doubts about his guilt and the role
Get updates on the U.S. Supreme Court hearings on Texas’ near-total abortion ban
BY REESE OXNER at The Texas Tribune, NOV. 1, 2021 Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear two high-profile legal challenges to Texas’ near-total abortion ban that prohibits the procedure as early as six weeks, which is before
