A Virginia federal district court judge’s ruling today that the individual mandate portion of the Obama health care law is unconstitutional is a “huge victory” for Texas, Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a phone interview.
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.
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: New SG Also New to Texas Bar [Updated]
The state’s new chief appellate lawyer is as new to the Texas bar as he is to the job.
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Texas Juries Gave Only 8 Death Sentences in 2010
Texas juries sentenced just eight people to death in 2010, the smallest number since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment here in 1976, according to a report published today by the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Ho (Steps) Down
James Ho said today that he’s leaving the post he’s held as Texas solicitor general since 2008.
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Inflexible
The legal wrangling between Texas and the federal government over the state’s air-pollution permitting system for big industrial plants is intensifying, as Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott filed a brief in a federal court yesterday defending the system.
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Criminal Justice
John Nielsen-Gammon: The TT Interview
The Texas state climatologist on the reasons for rising temperatures, why international science on climate change is fundamentally sound (no matter what state officials say), what he thinks of our fight with the EPA and how long the drought in Central Texas is likely to continue.
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Criminal Justice
A Man of Conviction?
Harris County District Judge Kevin Fine is set to hold a hearing Monday in the case of John Edward Green, who is charged with fatally shooting a Houston woman during a robbery in June 2008. Green’s attorneys and capital punishment opponents want Fine to find that prosecutors can’t seek the death penalty because the way we administer it in Texas is unconstitutional. “The current system is profoundly and fundamentally flawed from top to bottom,” says Andrea Keilen, executive director of the Texas Defender Service. Prosecutors counter that the ruling should be made by higher courts, not a trial judge.
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Criminal Justice
Marc Levin: The TT Interview
Marc Levin, director of the Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, talks with the Texas Tribune about how the upcoming state budget crunch will affect criminal justice.
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Criminal Justice
Marc Levin: The TT Interview
The director of the Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation on the criminal justice challenges lawmakers will face next session (and how they can get the greatest return for each dollar spent), why eliminating prisons could be the most cost-effective way to improve safety and why creating new criminal offenses is the wrong thing to do.
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: AG to TWIA: Make Numbers Public
The Texas attorney general’s office is weighing in on the back-and-forth between the Texas Windstorm Insurance Agency and Democratic attorney Steve Mostyn, who has been fighting in the courts to keep Hurricane Ike settlement details private.