Texas Politics 68
“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
Gov. Greg Abbott chastises school board group with vague accusation of “pornographic images” in library books
BY CASSANDRA POLLOCK 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. Gov. Greg Abbott asked the Texas Association of School Boards on Monday to determine the extent to which “pornography or other inappropriate content” exists in public schools
Evan Young, former clerk to conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, appointed to Texas Supreme Court
BY PATRICK SVITEK 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. Gov. Greg Abbott named Austin lawyer Evan Young to the Texas Supreme Court on Monday. Young is a former clerk for the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice
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
Former ACLU lawyer Rochelle Garza decides to run for attorney general after redistricting upends congressional campaign
BY PATRICK SVITEK NOV. 1, 2021 Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. Democrat Rochelle Garza, a former lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union from the Rio Grande Valley, is running for attorney general after redistricting complicated her campaign to succeed retiring U.S.
With a congressional seat suddenly open, Democrats in the Rio Grande Valley race to recruit for a competitive district
BY PATRICK SVITEK 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. Democrats in the Rio Grande Valley are scrambling to make up for lost time after U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen, decided to seek reelection in a different
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
How today’s near-total abortion ban in Texas was 20 years in the making.
BY KEVIN REYNOLDS 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. Here is a list of Texas laws since 2000 that restrict abortion access. 2000 – First parental notification law goes into effect Doctors must notify a parent
Plan B pills and trips out of state: South Texans adapt to near-total abortion ban
BY LAUREN SANTUCCI at The Texas Tribune, OCT. 30, 2021 Senate Bill 8, considered the nation’s most restrictive abortion law, bans abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before most people know they are pregnant. The law has spurred organizations and abortion funds in South Texas to provide emergency contraception and out-of-state travel assistance. Poverty and
Special election runoff on Tuesday for Texas House seat in San Antonio carries high stakes for both parties
BY PATRICK SVITEK at The Texas Tribune, OCT. 30, 2021 Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. The special election runoff Tuesday for a state House seat in San Antonio carries high stakes, with Republicans working hard to flip it as part of their
911 transcripts filed in updated “Trump Train” lawsuit reveal San Marcos police refused to send escort to Biden bus
BY KATE MCGEE at The Texas Tribune, OCT. 29, 2021 Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. As supporters of then-President Donald Trump surrounded and harassed a Joe Biden campaign bus on a Central Texas highway last year, San Marcos police officials and 911
Texas sues the Biden administration over federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates
BY JAMES POLLARD at The Texas Tribune, OCT. 29, 2021 Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. Attorney General Ken Paxton, on behalf of the state, sued the Biden administration on Friday over its coronavirus vaccine mandate for federal contractors. The federal requirement, which
