The Republican-drawn maps largely serve to bolster the party’s dominance. The maps are being challenged based on various claims, including intentional discrimination, vote dilution and racial gerrymandering.
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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Transportation
After a decade of hype, Dallas-Houston bullet train developer faces a leadership exodus as land acquisition slows
Texas Central has made little visible progress financing the high-speed rail project and acquiring property for the route in recent years. The company maintains that the bullet train is still being developed but declined to provide details about the path forward.
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Uvalde school shooting
The Texas Tribune and other newsrooms sue to force Uvalde officials to release shooting records
The Tribune and other news organizations also previously filed suit against the Department of Public Safety over its refusal to release records related to the school shooting.
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Texas 2022 Elections
Republican effort to remove Libertarians from November ballot rejected by Texas Supreme Court
On Aug. 8, a group of Republican candidates asked the Supreme Court to remove 23 Libertarian opponents from the ballot, saying they did not meet eligibility requirements. The Republicans included Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and others in congressional and state legislative races.
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Immigration
“Thanks, and God bless you”: Asylum-seekers allowed to enter U.S. after “remain in Mexico” ends
Two weeks after a federal judge allowed the Biden administration to end the Trump-era Migrant Protection Protocols, U.S. judges are beginning to allow migrants to stay in the country as their asylum claims are pending.
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Courts
Federal judge says Texas can’t ban 18- to 20-year-olds from carrying handguns
U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, who cited the Second Amendment in his decision, stayed the ruling pending appeal.
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Health care
Abortion-rights groups sue Texas AG, prosecutors to protect ability to help pregnant Texans seek legal abortions in other states
The suit comes two days before the state’s newest abortion ban, triggered by the overturning of Roe v. Wade, goes into effect.
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Texas Abortion Restrictions
Not 1925: Texas’ law banning abortion dates to before the Civil War
The restriction, which was revived after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, was put in place amid concerns about declining white birth rates and as the medical profession formalized.
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Criminal Justice
AP, Texas Tribune and other newsrooms ask court to unseal Henry Cuellar search warrant
The Tribune and a host of news organizations are seeking records related to a January raid on U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar’s Laredo home.
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Health care
Sutherland Springs shooting victims fight for government to admit liability nearly five years later
In February, a federal judge ordered the Air Force to pay $230 million to shooting survivors, families of victims. But feds are appealing the case.
