Attorney General Ken Paxton applauded Governor Greg Abbott’s appointment of current Texas Assistant Solicitor General Kristofer Monson to Chief Administrative Law Judge for the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH). The Chief Administrative Law Judge oversees SOAH, which is a forum for the conduct of adjudicative hearings in the executive branch of state government.
Attorney General Ken Paxton today applauded Governor Greg Abbott’s appointment of Brett Busby to the Texas Supreme Court to replace Justice Phil Johnson, who retired at the end of last year.
The bail system has existed in America since colonial times. It addresses a timeless problem: how to ensure the appearance of a criminal defendant at trial without the need for pretrial incarceration.
On July 5th I wrote that conservatives remembered what the left had done to Judge Robert Bork and believed Judge Brett Kavanaugh would be a just appointment to the seat Bork was denied. The extreme efforts to stop his nomination confirm that the left was determined to prevent that from happening. Of course, at the end of the day the ferocity of the opposition to this appointment illustrates the outsized power the court has assumed in our country. The fear of losing the power of the court as their vanguard, of the gavel being in the hand of others, explains the lefts willingness to “do anything” to defeat the nomination. Indeed, some even suggested Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley was not qualified to lead the committee because he is not a lawyer. The fact is Senator Grassley has as many hours in law school as Senator Feinstein, the ranking minority member.
Dykema, a leading national law firm, is proud to announce that Michael C. Toth, Austin-based senior counsel in the firm’s Commercial Litigation Practice Group, was sworn in as justice on the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals yesterday, September 26, 2018.
Governor Greg Abbott unveiled the “Damon Allen Act,” a set of proposals to reform the bail system in Texas to protect law enforcement and enhance public safety.
Governor Greg Abbott named Jeff Oldham as General Counsel to the Governor following the confirmation by the U.S. Senate of Andrew Oldham to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Jeff Oldham (no relation) previously worked as a private practice attorney at Bracewell LLP in Houston, TX.
Governor Greg Abbott and the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) announced a $1 million grant for overtime expenses of law enforcement officers involved in the response efforts after the shooting at Santa Fe High School.
As the Senate begins another round of debates on whether to appoint a Presidential nominee to the high court, the country deserves a continued debate on the proper role of the courts in our republic. During the last Presidential election Donald Trump campaigned on appointing judges who would follow in the mold of Antonin Scalia. In recent times, the democrats have argued that judges should apply something of an empathy standard when interpreting the constitution, creating a sort of living constitution to keep up with the times.
In mid-April, a 4-year-old boy was summoned to jury duty in Pennsylvania but was unable to go because “he has preschool that day.” The situation was a light-hearted reminder that 1) errors do happen and 2) some potential jurors do have legitimate reasons they can’t serve. On the whole, however, jury service is a critical component of our justice system and depends on everyday citizens—those us well beyond our preschool years—showing up and to do our duty.
AUSTIN – Three new members have been named to the board of the San Jacinto River Authority (SJRA), a move approved by Texas State Sen. Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe), according to a news release.
The Texas Supreme Court has a unique structure, reflecting the state’s stubbornly independent-minded culture. Most state supreme courts have jurisdiction over civil and criminal cases and have seven (or fewer) members, who are appointed by the governor and face the voters — if at all — only for periodic “retention” elections. The Texas Supreme Court, in contrast, hears only civil appeals (criminal cases are decided by the co-equal Texas Court of Criminal Appeals) and has nine members, all of whom are subject to statewide partisan elections. The last feature is quite unusual; only seven states select judges in this manner. Despite this distinctive design, the Texas Supreme Court succeeds at steering a steady jurisprudential course in a cautious, low-key style.
AUSTIN – In a letter to congressional leaders, Attorney General Ken Paxton and Governor Greg Abbott called for swift passage of the Free Speech Fairness Act (H.R.
In a prior post, I discussed the Pidgeon v. Turner case, now pending before the Texas Supreme Court, involving a taxpayer challenge to same-sex spousal benefits. Oral argument was held on March 1. The taxpayers challenging the city of Houston’s policy of granting same-sex spousal benefits to city employees were represented at oral argument by Jonathan Mitchell, a former Scalia clerk, former Texas solicitor general, and now a visiting professor at Stanford law school. The city of Houston was represented by Douglas Alexander, a leading appellate practitioner in an Austin law firm whose partners include former Texas Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson. The oral argument was superb, and both counsel fielded numerous questions from the fully-engaged justices.
The disquieting spectacle of three unelected judges (all appointed by President Barack Obama) enjoining the signature initiative of the newly inaugurated President Donald Trump, without even citing the statute—8 U.S.C. section 1182(f)—that expressly authorizes the action they just stopped, has focused public attention as never before on the threat posed by liberal judicial activism to our system of self-government.
AUSTIN – Gov. Greg Abbott has given his State of the State speech to the citizens of Texas where he addressed what his priorities and emergency activities will be for the 85th legislative session.
The Supreme Court’s fractured decision in Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) required states to recognize same-sex marriage. Obergefell came less than 30 years after Bowers v. Hardwick,[1] in which the court refused to recognize a right to engage in homosexual sodomy. In changing its mind, the Court effectively amended the U.S. Constitution with its Delphic utterances.
The Supreme Court has failed to reach a decision in President Barack Obama’s most prominent effort to reform immigration policy, which would have provided a path to gaining legal status for up to 4.5 million immigrants and protect them from deportation.
