Texas’ voter ID law was designed to thwart emerging minority voting power in the state and should be dropped, attorneys for the law’s opponents said during closing arguments in a federal court on Monday.
Criminal Justice
Get the latest Texas Tribune coverage on criminal justice, including crime, courts, law enforcement, and reforms shaping the state’s justice system.
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Criminal Justice
At TribFest, Perry Says He Still Supports Tuition Law
Gov. Rick Perry, speaking on Sunday at The Texas Tribune Festival, said he still supports a Texas law that grants in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants. He also said he would not decide whether he was going to run for president until 2015.
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Criminal Justice
Cornyn at TribFest: GOP Must Lead and Not Throw Tantrums
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said on Saturday that he lamented his party’s contribution to what he said was a dysfunctional government, and he criticized the Obama administration’s handling of the current crisis over the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
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Criminal Justice
Liveblog: Immigration at The Texas Tribune Festival
We’re liveblogging the sessions from the 2014 Texas Tribune Festival’s Immigration track. The sessions include panels on border security, Latinos and the Republican Party, the comprehensive immigration reform debate, and what to do with the DREAMers.
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Bidness As Usual
Liveblog: Open Government at The Texas Tribune Festival
We’re liveblogging the sessions from the 2014 Texas Tribune Festival’s Open Government track. The sessions include panels on disclosures by legislators, open records in Texas, transparency and the Texas budget, and the issue of donor privacy.
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Criminal Justice
Liveblog: The Justice Track at The Texas Tribune Festival
We’re liveblogging the sessions from the 2014 Texas Tribune Festival’s Justice track. The sessions include panels on criminal justice reform, the Texas Supreme Court, same-sex marriage and the death penalty.
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Criminal Justice
Against Difficult Odds, Finding Refuge in El Paso
Four years after fleeing Somalia, Dekha Hassan-Mohamed is living in El Paso after winning an asylum claim and bucking a national trend. Her lawyer is seeking the same protection for another client who fled Nigeria. Both women are grateful for the new chapters of their lives in El Paso.
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Criminal Justice
Woman Executed for Boy’s 2004 Starvation Death
UPDATED: A 38-year-old Arlington woman was executed Wednesday for the starvation death of her girlfriend’s son. Lisa Ann Coleman is the sixth woman to be executed in the state since 1982.
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Criminal Justice
Perry Urges Mexican President to Visit Texas, See Guard at Work
Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday invited Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to witness for himself the operations of the National Guard patrolling the Texas side of the Rio Grande.
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Criminal Justice
Time to Ditch Texas’ Key Man Grand Jury System?
When Texas Gov. Rick Perry was indicted last month for allegedly overstepping his authority, the charges came from a type of grand jury that is not the norm in Austin’s criminal courts: one whose members were chosen at random.
