The latest courts news from The Texas Tribune.
A federal district judge on Wednesday ruled against the state of Texas and halted a controversial state-based immigration enforcement law just days before it was scheduled to go into effect. Full Story
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A decision on whether Texas' state-based immigration enforcement, Senate Bill 4, will be put on hold could come later this week. But even if it's temporarily halted, the matter is far from over. Full Story
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Federal judges on Thursday found fault with some of the state’s 150 state House districts, which must now be redrawn ahead of the 2018 elections. Full Story
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A federal judge has tossed out a new law softening Texas’ strict voter identification requirements. Texas' attorney general says he will appeal the ruling. Full Story
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As part of our Lock The Vote series, we examine a key piece of Republicans’ 2011 redistricting strategy, which courts said discriminated against minorities: U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett’s curiously-shaped 35th Congressional District. Full Story
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A man convicted in the sexual assault and murder of an 11-year-old girl was set to die next Wednesday. But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stopped his execution amid claims of intellectual disability. Full Story
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Texas violated the Voting Rights Act by restricting the interpretation assistance English-limited voters may receive, a federal appeals court ruled. Full Story
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Federal judges have invalidated two of Texas’ 36 congressional districts, setting up a scramble to redraw them ahead of the 2018 elections. Full Story
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Bernie Tiede, the East Texas mortician-turned-murderer whose crime prompted a Hollywood movie, lost one round of his appeals Thursday. Full Story
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A federal judge signed off on Texas' proposal to temporarily move more than 1,000 inmates from one hot prison to 11 different facilities around the state. Full Story
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Texas submitted a court-ordered proposal Thursday to move about 1,000 medically sensitive inmates from an uncooled prison southeast of College Station to air-conditioned units elsewhere in the state. Full Story
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There's not much room in federal law for the U.S. Department of Justice to target Texas schools for the use of affirmative action, but a lawsuit pending in state court could spell trouble for race-conscious admissions at the University of Texas at Austin. Full Story
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Gov. Greg Abbott asked the Texas Department of Public Safety Friday to retract its plans to begin charging local agencies for forensic testing. Full Story
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Texas carried out its fifth execution of the year Thursday evening, putting to death TaiChin Preyor in the 2004 murder of a San Antonio woman. Full Story
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A legislative measure that will fund part of a border wall passed the U.S. House on Thursday, but its prospects in the U.S. Senate look grim. Full Story
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has received a Dec. 11 trial date in his securities fraud case. Full Story
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The Senate on Wednesday gave initial approval to legislation that would roll back local mobile phone ordinances that go beyond the recent statewide ban on texting while driving. Full Story
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Eight doses of the state's supply of pentobarbital, the only drug used in Texas executions, expired on Thursday, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Full Story
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With two days left before TaiChin Preyor's scheduled execution, his lawyers have tried just about everything to stop it. That includes alleging that his previous counsel committed fraud. Full Story
Most Texas prisons remain un-air conditioned, but a federal judge's ruling Wednesday called conditions at one prison cruel and unusual and ordered temporary air conditioning for heat-sensitive inmates. Full Story