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 - On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court affirmed a ruling in favor of BlueStone Natural Resources in a mineral dispute involving a “frequently litigated issue: whether and to what extent a royalty interest bears a proportionate share of postproduction costs.”
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.
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.
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.
HOUSTON - The 14th Court of Appeals today affirmed the denial of AutoNation USA Houston’s motion to compel arbitration in a discrimination lawsuit, finding that arbitration would not be less expensive than litigation.
HOUSTON — Kirby Offshore Marine in Houston is facing a claim it forced one of its crew members to work under harsh conditions immediately following his bout with COVID-19.
AUSTIN - Yesterday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals found that the attorney general cannot prosecute election cases unilaterally – a decision AG Ken Paxton thinks “could be devastating for future elections in Texas.”
WASHINGTON – The full Fifth Circuit bench ruled yesterday that Texas accountant Michelle Cochran has the right to challenge the constitutionality of her Administrative Law Judge’s (ALJ) removal protections in federal court before undergoing an administrative adjudication, a press release states.
