After state officials conceded that at least a quarter of a list of nearly 100,000 Texas voters flagged for citizenship review should never have been questioned, a federal judge said, “I wish all of this could’ve been done back as the original effort.”
Courts
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Politics
Houston judge tosses same-sex marriage benefits challenge, but plaintiffs pledge to appeal
A newly elected Democratic judge issued the decision in the latest turn of a 2013 legal challenge to Houston’s policy extending benefits to municipal employees’ same-sex spouses.
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Texas Voting Rights
Eight Texas counties agree to halt voter citizenship reviews while lawsuits proceed
The counties sent certain voters letters demanding that they prove their citizenship after they were flagged by the secretary of state’s office.
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Texas Voting Rights
Opposition to Texas Secretary of State David Whitley’s nomination mounts, imperiling his future in the job
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Politics
Gov. Greg Abbott appoints Brett Busby to Texas Supreme Court
If confirmed, Busby, a former U.S. Supreme Court clerk, would replace Justice Phil Johnson, who retired after 13 years on the high court.
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Texas Voting Rights
State lawyers defend handling of Texas voter citizenship review, suggest some county officials broke the law
An assistant attorney general said counties should have reviewed their lists of flagged voters to determine whether they had reason to believe the voters were ineligible before requiring them to prove their citizenship.
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Criminal Justice
For the second time, U.S. Supreme Court reverses death sentence decision for Texas inmate Bobby Moore
This time, the majority of the justices said Moore has shown he is intellectually disabled.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Sen. Angela Paxton files bill that would allow her husband, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, to issue exemptions from securities regulations
Billed as a consumer-protection effort, the proposal would allow approved individuals to serve as investment advisers without registering with the state board — a felony under Texas law that Ken Paxton was charged with in 2015.
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Texas Voting Rights
The AG’s office told lawmakers it isn’t investigating voters on Texas’ citizenship review list. It told a local official the opposite.
A Paxton deputy told a Guadalupe County official Feb. 1 that the attorney general’s office “has pending criminal investigations related to these issues.”
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Texas Voting Rights
Texas AG Ken Paxton says his office hasn’t launched criminal investigations of voters flagged for citizenship review
Some lawmakers had fretted that sending the preliminary, faulty list to the state’s top prosecutor would intimidate voters.
