On this week’s TribCast, Emily talks to Ross, Patrick, Alexa about the Supreme Court-bound Texas redistricting case, Ted Cruz’s latest fundraising numbers and former U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman’s criminal conviction. Democratic congressional candidate Rick Trevino joins the conversation.
Courts
Stay up to date on Texas courts with in-depth coverage of major rulings, judicial elections, criminal justice, and the judges shaping state law from The Texas Tribune.
Posted in
Politics
Immigrants in Texas are among the least likely to have a lawyer, most likely to get deported
Less than 30 percent of immigrants facing deportation proceedings in Texas have lawyers, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.
Posted in
Politics
Former Texas congressman Steve Stockman found guilty of 23 felonies
A federal jury in Houston has ruled that Steve Stockman, a conservative Republican, is guilty of all but one charge in his federal fraud trial.
Posted in
Politics
Steve Stockman, former Texas congressman, awaits verdict in federal fraud trial
Stockman, a Republican who represented the Houston suburbs twice in the U.S. House before losing a longshot bid for the U.S. Senate in 2014, is accused of funneling more than $1 million of charitable donations toward personal and campaign expenses.
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Criminal Justice
Exonerated man on Texas request for faster death penalty appeals: “I would have been executed”
Defense lawyers, legal groups and former federal judges also point to cases of people taken off death row as they oppose the state’s push for faster federal death penalty appeals.
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Public Education
A teacher says a coworker grabbed her “behind.” The Texas Supreme Court tossed her lawsuit.
The court found that the woman who sued didn’t prove that the female coworker who harassed her was gay, so it’s not clear that the incident constituted “sexually motivated touching.”
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Families Divided
Federal government tells border prosecutors to adopt “zero-tolerance” policy on immigration
The U.S. Department of Justice’s directive tells federal prosecutors on the southwest border to prosecute all Department of Homeland Security referrals for alleged violations of federal immigration illegal-entry laws.
Posted in
Politics
Immigration judge says quota mandate will do more harm than good to an already clogged system
A mandate handed down by the Trump administration designed to speed up activity within the country’s clogged immigration court system could actually have the opposite effect, the president of the National Association of Immigration Judges said Wednesday.
Posted in
Politics
Federal judge: Texas is violating national voter registration law
A federal judge has ruled that Texas violated the federal National Voter Registration Act. The fix he orders could introduce the state’s first online voter registration system.
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Criminal Justice
Lawmakers weigh changing Texas law that lets rent-to-own stores file criminal charges on customers
The chairman of the House Business & Industry Committee said he was “stunned” to learn there is an obscure law that makes it easy for rent-to-own companies to file criminal charges against customers who fall behind on payments. The committee is looking at changing the law after a joint investigation by The Texas Tribune and NerdWallet.
