The trial of the Peruvian woman was the first test of the Trump administration’s new policy aimed at prosecuting immigrants who crossed the border illegally with military-related charges.
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.
Texas’ undocumented college students no longer qualify for in-state tuition
Within hours of a federal lawsuit targeting Texas’ policy of letting undocumented students qualify for lower public tuition rates, the 24-year-old law was no more.
In final act, Texas Legislature boosts judges’ pay and lawmaker pensions
House and Senate members agreed that judges needed a pay raise. But they spent the final hours of the legislative session debating whether Texas lawmakers should also benefit from the boost.
U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear GOP activist’s lawsuit challenging Texas Ethics Commission’s lobbying fine
Former Empower Texans leader Michael Quinn Sullivan has challenged a $10,000 fine from the Texas Ethics Commission for failure to register as a lobbyist for more than 10 years at nearly every level of the state court system.
Effort to curb personal injury lawsuit payouts dies in the Texas Legislature
The goal of the bill, according to the author, was to curb “nuclear verdicts” — ones that award victims $10 million or more.
Long-awaited raise for Texas judges in limbo over legislative pension clash
A bill to increase judicial salaries from $140,000 to $175,000 a year stalled amid a disagreement over lawmakers’ own retirement benefits.
Texas Supreme Court gives initial win to Paxton in migrant shelter case
The high court did not rule on the merits of the case, but allows Paxton to continue his investigation of Annunciation House.
Stricter bail rules win final passage in Texas Legislature, will go to voters in November
The House passage of the measure asking voters to amend the state Constitution to tighten the state’s bail laws hands a major policy win to Gov. Greg Abbott.
New limits for personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits may become a reality in Texas
The House made changes to the proposal that leave open ways for victims to be compensated beyond medical bills.
Proposal to automatically deny bail to some previously accused of felonies falls in Texas House
Democrats declined to support Senate Joint Resolution 87, which sprinted through the Senate and needed 100 votes to clear the lower chamber.

