A specially appointed court of review vacated the State Commission on Judicial Conduct’s sanction of Sharon Keller today, saying the state board acted unconstitutionally in reprimanding the presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals.
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
ICE Under Fire
A year after Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced it would reform immigration detention, advocacy groups say the agency has fallen short on a few key counts: addressing alleged human rights violations and expanding alternatives to incarceration.
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Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Ramsey on whether Bill White at the top of the ballot helps Houston-area candidates, Aaronson and Stiles present a treemap of Texas political ads, Stiles and Ramsey on the latest campaign finance filings, Aguilar on the Laredo mayor’s race, Hamilton on anonymous tweeters who make mischief, Ramshaw interviews a disability rights activist with a thing for iPads and bibles, Hu on the accidental release of Rick Perry’s “secret” schedule, M. Smith on the bitter back-and-forth over a voter registration effort in Harris County, Philpott’s micro-debate on education between two House candidates, Grissom on this week’s twist in the Cameron Todd Willingham investigation and, in our latest collaboration with a big-city Texas newspaper, Stiles, Grissom and John Tedesco of the San-Antonio Express News on what kind of Texans, exactly, are applying to carry concealed handguns: The best of our best from Oct. 4 to 9, 2010.
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Still No U.S. Attorneys for Texas
The protracted U.S. attorney appointment process has claimed its latest casualty: Michael McCrum, who withdrew his name from consideration on Thursday.
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Criminal Justice
2010: Perry Provided “Political Schedule” By Mistake
Texans weren’t supposed to see Gov. Rick Perry’s Sept. 15 schedule after all. The governor’s office says it mistakenly released the governor’s “political schedule” — as opposed to his schedule of official state business — to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White’s campaign.
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Criminal Justice
Not-So-Spare Schedule
Gov. Rick Perry apparently keeps a more detailed schedule than what his office has previously released to the public. In what might have been a mistake, a more detailed version came out in response to an open records request from Democrat Bill White’s campaign.
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: More Waiting for Willingham
Navarro County prosecutor R. Lowell Thompson’s request that Judge Charlie Baird recuse himself from the Cameron Todd Willingham court of inquiry hearing wasn’t decided today.
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Criminal Justice
The Prosecution Objects
Fifteen years ago Judge Charlie Baird was one of the justices on the state’s highest criminal court who reaffirmed Cameron Todd Willingham’s death sentence. On Wednesday, Baird is scheduled to begin a process that could determine whether that conviction and Willingham’s execution were wrong. And the prosecution objects.
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Criminal Justice
2010: The Wages of Sin
If the state needs money to balance its budget, it should look first to sin taxes on gambling, alcohol and marijuana.