The latest courts news from The Texas Tribune.
The order temporarily blocks a lower court’s ruling that would have gone into effect Oct. 14 and forced Texas to provide more protective measures against the coronavirus at a geriatric prison. Full Story
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The elections administrator for the county, Texas' most populous and a critical stronghold for Democrats, has already sent the applications to voters 65 or over. The GOP Texas Supreme Court ruled he may not send them to the rest of the county's 2.4 million registered voters. Full Story
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The Texas Supreme Court ruled against several GOP officials who pushed to keep early voting to a two-week period during the pandemic. Full Story
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Earlier in his career, media reports called the now 33-year-old real estate investor a “wunderkind,” a “rising star” and a “prodigy.” Now he’s fighting more than a dozen bankruptcies and has been linked to criminal allegations against an embattled Texas politician. Full Story
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The district attorney in Tyler County, where the grand jury indicted Netflix, is the son of U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, who has labeled the movie child pornography. Full Story
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Paxton said Monday he wouldn’t resign. Here’s what we know so far about the latest allegations against Texas’ top legal official. Full Story
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Gregg Sofer — who was a counselor to the U.S. attorney general and formerly worked in the Western District of Texas office — was named as his successor. Full Story
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A day after Trump was hospitalized for COVID-19, he appeared on video saying he was "starting to feel good". Meanwhile, an increasing number of Republican officials and key congressional members announced they had also contracted the virus, casting doubt on the timing of U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Full Story
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Experts say the extension could help the historically undercounted state regain lost ground. Texans are already responding to the census at a substantially lower rate than the national average. Full Story
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In two separate federal lawsuits filed on behalf of older voters, groups including the Texas and National Leagues of United Latin American Citizens, the League of Women Voters of Texas and the Texas Alliance for Retired Americans asked that the federal courts overturn the governor’s order, which forced Travis and Harris counties — two of the state’s most important Democratic strongholds — to shutter a number of drop-off sites they had already opened this week. Full Story
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Voting and election cases are piled up in the courts in Texas, and the days between now and Nov. 3 are growing short. Some of the rules could change while we're voting. But vote anyhow. Full Story
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A three-judge panel on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a 2017 state law ending the popular one-punch option — and admonished a lower court judge for trying to bring the practice back so soon before early voting starts Oct. 13. Full Story
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Brian Kolfage, who’s charged in a case where he’s accused of defrauding thousands in a “build the wall” effort, has used personal attacks and misinformation against perceived opponents. Full Story
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A federal judge's ruling temporarily reinstating the practice of one-punch voting has been put on a temporary hold as judges on the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals weigh the issue. Full Story
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Conservative activist Steve Hotze and a number of Republican candidates and officials are asking the Texas Supreme Court to shorten the early voting period and limit drop-off locations for absentee ballots in the state’s largest Democratic county. Full Story
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Both of Texas' Republican U.S. senators have indicated they support moving forward with the Supreme Court confirmation process less than two months before the election. Full Story
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Experts say the Supreme Court is unlikely to strike down the law in its entirety. Texas’ GOP leaders have yet to produce a promised plan to replace it. Full Story
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A federal judge in California late Thursday ordered that the census count should continue until Oct. 31, the date the Census Bureau had planned on before the administration abruptly shortened the count. Full Story
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President Trump hopes to quickly appoint a replacement for the liberal justice, and immigrant and civil rights groups are bracing for what could be years of losses in the high court. Full Story
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The indictments center on about 38 ballots or applications for ballots in a Gregg County Commissioners Court race. Experts say voter fraud is rare. Full Story