Legal scholars continue to explore the frontier of constitutional interpretation, with recent books by Ilan Wurman (The Second Founding; A Debt Against the Living), Kurt Lash (The Fourteenth Amendment and the Privileges and Immunities of American Citizenship; The Reconstruction Amendments), Randy Barnett (The Original Meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment; Our Republican Constitution), and many others.
AUSTIN - The Texas Windstorm Association is not a state agency subject to a government code prohibiting the use of appropriated funds for lobbying activities, Attorney General Ken Paxton recently opined.
AUSTIN - A Houston attorney is asking the Texas Supreme Court to “condemn” the asserted “political statements” the Second Court of Appeals made in its opinion concerning ExxonMobil’s climate change case.
WASHINGTON - The state of Texas has sided against the State Bar of Texas, filing a brief in support of a trio of attorneys asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hold that members of a mandatory bar cannot be compelled to finance any political or ideological activities with their dues.
AUSTIN - While the California municipalities bringing climate change lawsuits against oil companies are arguing Texas courts lack jurisdiction because of a lack of contacts within the state, ExxonMobil contends their use of “lawfare” has in fact established sufficient contacts “to be held to account here.”
AUSTIN - An attorney general opinion apparently can’t determine whether a banquet facility inside a stadium owned by the school district is a “building of a public school.”
The return of nuclear verdicts to Texas courts (and attorney television advertising) and the recently launched efforts of the medical malpractice plaintiff’s bar to convince the federal courts to strike down Texas’ cap on noneconomic damages in medical liability cases (which is likely to play out over several years) could potentially raise an issue for state lawmakers: is it time to consider codifying at least some objective standards and levels of proof for mental anguish damages?
WASHINGTON - The State Bar of Texas’ speech is government speech, so “the Free Speech Clause has no application” to its expressive activities, according to a petition the Bar’s Board of Directors recently filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.
Peckar & Abramson, Pc Welcomes Angela Connor, Freddy X. Muñoz, and Brian D. Waller to the Firm’s Partnership; Announces Additional Promotions to Senior Counsel and Senior Associate Ranks.
