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.
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
Criminal Justice
DPS agrees to reverse new policy of charging for crime lab testing
Gov. Greg Abbott asked the Texas Department of Public Safety Friday to retract its plans to begin charging local agencies for forensic testing.
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Criminal Justice
Texas executes man who claimed his lawyers committed fraud
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.
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Criminal Justice
Border funding bill passes U.S. House; Texans vote along party lines
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.
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Criminal Justice
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s criminal trial set for Dec. 11
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has received a Dec. 11 trial date in his securities fraud case.
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Criminal Justice
Senate backs bill that would roll back cellphone safety laws in dozens of Texas cities
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.
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice
Almost half of Texas’ supply of execution drugs just expired
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.
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Criminal Justice
Set for execution, death row inmate alleges legal fraud in hopes of a stay
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.
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Criminal Justice
Heat is part of life at Texas prisons, but federal judge orders one to cool it
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.
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Criminal Justice
Dallas getting its first female police chief with hire of Detroit deputy
Sources say that Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax has hired Detroit Deputy Chief Ulysha Renee Hall, who’ll be the first female to serve as police chief in Dallas.
