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Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury

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Osler McCarthy

Osler McCarthy is an editor-at-large for The Texas Lawbook.

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Osler McCarthy

Osler McCarthy is an editor-at-large for The Texas Lawbook. McCarthy retired in August 2021 after 21 years as staff attorney for public information for the Texas Supreme Court. High on his to-do list is developing appellate coverage tailored for Texas business lawyers.

He is a graduate of Austin College and holds a law degree from Gonzaga Law School, where he did not play basketball even though he had four years’ college eligibility left. After his mid-career law-school venture he clerked for the chief justice at the Washington State Supreme Court. After law school he practiced appellate criminal defense in Spokane. He has published academic articles on defamation and privacy and wrote the defamation chapter for the initial torts volume of West’s Washington Practice series.

As a journalist before and after law school, McCarthy worked mostly as an editor for newspapers in Sherman, Temple, Spokane, Kansas City, San Bernardino and Austin.

He is a licensed private pilot and would be flying again if he could get his 1968 Cessna Cardinal restored. His wife, Diana Dawson, is a University of Texas journalism professor. They have two children: a son who is a Navy pilot and a daughter who is editor of The Northern Light in Blaine, Washington.

Sherman Murder Defendant Loses Effort to Overturn His Death Penalty in Racially Tinged Prosecution 

The U.S. Supreme Court denied review — and habeas relief — for the killer in a notorious 2004 Sherman case who murdered his estranged wife, turning down his argument that he was denied effective assistance of counsel after his trial counsel failed to strike any of three jurors who stated religious objections to interracial marriage or mixed-race children. The habeas corpus effort lingered on the Supreme Court’s docket for more than a year from when it was filed in September 2021 and drew amicus support by leading Texas jurists and ex-PepsiCo general counsel and former deputy U.S. attorney general Larry Thompson.

October 11, 2022 Osler McCarthy

With a Decision that May Lead to New Law, SCOTX Grapples with Two Cases in Which Ph.D. Revocations are Threatened

Texas Supreme Court justices give no hint whether the universities’ implied-powers argument can justify their efforts to rescind doctoral degrees awarded to former graduates for “academic misconduct.” In Texas, such revocation power has never been determined by reported appellate decisions and only a few revocations have been noted nationwide. The grads argue the universities have no express authority to do so. The AG says the power is implied from an express power to grant degrees. Behind that argument, due-process concerns linger in both cases.

September 20, 2022 Osler McCarthy

At SCOTX, A Medical Researcher Fights to Keep UT from Rescinding Her Degree; Call It a Daavid ja Goljat Struggle

For 10 years Suvi Orr has lived with the threat that the University of Texas will revoke her Ph.D. in organic chemistry. For 10 years she’s been fighting back in court against the university’s complaint that she was academically dishonest, based first on a scientific journal published years after graduated related to her dissertation research to create a synthetic compound for cancer treatment. Then on her dissertation research itself. She says she did nothing wrong.

Her lawyers say she’s been denied due process and argue UT cannot void a degree long after a student has graduated, not without full due process in a court hearing that she has never had.

But Tuesday, 14 years after her graduation, 14 years after the start of a pharmaceutical-research career and dozens of peer-reviewed journal articles and patent applications that came with it, the Texas Supreme Court will decide whether UT has the power to do what it wants to do and whether the disciplinary process affords Suvi Orr procedural protection.

September 19, 2022 Osler McCarthy

Both Sides Cry Foul in a Jurisdictional Dispute Over Volkswagen’s Emissions-Cheating Scandal

After what seemed a last-minute recusal in a case with millions on the line, the Texas Supreme Court asked for the governor’s appointment of two temporary justices to break a probable stalemate in reaching a resolution in the Volkswagen emissions-cheating scandal case. Now the court must determine whether, as VW argues, the governor’s commission of special justices poses due-process violations.

July 11, 2022 Osler McCarthy

SCOTX Inks a Bummer for Hempsters

The Texas Supreme Court determines hemp dealers have no constitutional right to manufacture hemp to smoke.

June 27, 2022 Osler McCarthy

High-Speed Rail Gets SCOTX Approval in Eminent-Domain Challenge

The Texas Supreme Court held that the two companies seeking to take private property for the controversial Dallas-to-Houston high-speed rail have a statutory right to exercise eminent domain to take right-of-way for the 240-mile rail line.

June 24, 2022 Osler McCarthy

‘Sanctuary Cities’ on SCOTX Schedule in Fall, but the Issue is Defamation Protection Under Texas Citizens Participation Act

Two grants, consolidated for argument, raise facts and issues that will capture headlines, but both raise questions under the citizens participation act, the pervasive interlocutory scheme intended to provide a quick dismissal ramp for claims based on free-speech issues. Both cases focus on efforts to create anti-abortion “sanctuary” cities throughout Texas. And both involve an ordinance, the first of several, declaring Waskom to be a sanctuary city. But the proponents didn’t stop there.

June 21, 2022 Osler McCarthy

Texas Supreme Court Answers Certified Questions in a Way that Package Liquor Stores Worry May Open Floodgates to Big Retailers

The court answered certified questions from the Fifth Circuit asking it to interpret state liquor laws banning public corporations from owning package-store permits in Texas. But, in doing so, justices determine an exempt corporation, exempted by a grandfather clause that allows a public corporation to own liquor stores, should not forfeit its exemption by selling interests to ease debt in a Chapter 11 reorganization.

June 17, 2022 Osler McCarthy

Texas Supreme Court Holds Against Texas A.G., Clarifies Rules for Soliciting Mail-in Ballots

The Texas Supreme Court has held a challenge to an “election integrity” law as too broad in its sweep to limit how Texas voting officials “solicit” mail-in ballots.

June 10, 2022 Osler McCarthy

Texas Supreme Court to Review Houston Astros-Sale Case

Next up in the lineup challenging the 2011 sale of the Houston Astros: the Texas Supreme Court. After the court granted review of former Astros owner Drayton McLane’s petition contesting lower court holdings that the new owner might have paid too much, a principal issue on deck is whether the sale can be reversed.

June 6, 2022 Osler McCarthy

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Features

  • HF Sinclair’s Vaishali Bhatia Balances Concerns of Business and Law, and Wins a Green Apatosaurus - Vaishali Bhatia experienced five crazy months in 2022. As HollyFrontier's GC, she and her team closed the $400 million acquisition of the Puget Sound Refinery, negotiated and closed the $2.7 billion acquisition of Sinclair Oil Corporation and Sinclair Transportation, which required multiple regulatory approvals and the creation of an entirely new publicly-traded entity. That was immediately followed by a $400 million senior notes offering and a new credit facility.

    Citing those extraordinary successes, the ACC DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook named Bhatia as the 2022 DFW General Counsel of the Year for a Midsized Legal Department.
    January 31, 2023Mark Curriden
  • Tuesday Morning’s GC Jennyfer Gray’s Life in the Fast Lane - Jennyfer Gray knows what it means to take it to the limit one more time. As interim general counsel of Tuesday Morning, Gray is helping lead the Dallas-based retailer through turbulent times. Facing severe economic challenges like most retailers, Tuesday Morning and Gray went through multiple financings and credit facilities, including a $110 million asset-based loan, and the transition to a new executive leadership team and corporate board. In recognition of Gray's achievements, she is the recipient of the 2022 DFW Corporate Counsel Award recipient for General Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department. January 26, 2023Mark Curriden

GCs, Lawyers & Firms

  • Former Texas Appellate Judge Rejoins Dykema - After eight years on the Dallas Court of Appeals, former justice David Schenck is practicing law at his old law firm. In an interview with The Texas Lawbook, Schenck said Dykema was the only firm he seriously considered.
  • White & Case Hires Three Bracewell Litigators in Houston
  • Remembering Fort Worth Federal Judge John McBryde
  • Winstead Elects Jeff Matthews as Next Leader
  • This Associate Logged 100 Hours of Pro Bono in the Last Year. Here’s How He Did It
  • SEC’s David Peavler Joining Jones Day
  • P.S. — A Couple Awards, A Memorial Fund, ‘It’s Fun to Stay at the YMCA’
  • Jonny Havens: An Entrepreneurial Lawyer, Iraq War Veteran & Pro Bono Advocate
More GCs, Lawyers & Firms

Lawyers in the News

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Clyde O. “Chip” Adams IV
Priya Aiyar
Doug Bacon
Jim Baldwin
Jesse Craig Barker
Jeffrey Scott Becker
Will Becker
Eryn Berquist
Shawn Blackburn
Victor Boutros
Clayton J. Callen
Chrysta Castañeda
Don Colleluori 
Chris Collins
Deron Dacus
Shumaila Dhuka
Alan Dorantes
Scott G. Edwards
Joanna Enns
Russ Falconer
Jon Finger
Rachel Fitzgerald
Andrew Frackman
Royal Furgeson
David Gair
William Gammon
Maria Garrett
Mitchell Garrett
Rodney Gilstrap
Joseph Grinstein
David Gunn
Charlie Haag
Elizabeth Hadley
Brian Hail
James S. Halpern
Kevin Henderson
James Wesley Hendrix
Joe Hoffman
Garrett Hughey
Joel Israel
Jack Jacobsen
Marc Jaffe
Adam Johnson
Chelsea Johnson
Jim Jordan
Johnathan Jordan
Mike Logan
Marc Kaplan
Dee Kelly Jr.
Gary Kennedy
Jeremy Kennedy
Susan Cannon Kennedy
Chris Kratovil
Douglas M. Kubehl
Bianca LaCaille
Lindsay Lane
David Lange
Adam Larson
Marysia Laskowski
Jonathan Litsey
Ryan Maierson
Jim Marshall
Michael Mazidi
Josh McNulty
Doug McWilliams
Jonathan Mitchell
Adrienne Mosley
Michael Murphy
Cheryl Camin Murray
David A. Nelson
Sarah Nelson
Andrew S. Oldham
Patrick O'Malley
Yvette Ostolaza
Danielle Patterson
Ken Paxton
Brett Peace
Jesse Pence
Kevin Peter
David Rassin
Andino Reynal 
Tom Rhodus
Benjamin Roberts
Whit Roberts
Adolfo “JR” Rodriguez Jr.
Ladd Sanger
Stephen W. Sather
Jason Schumacher
Ryan Scofield
Cory Don Sepolio
Anthony Shoemaker
Mike Slack
Joshua Smeltzer
Carl E. Stewart
David Stone
Brianne M. Straka
Chris Strong
Michael Telle
Ashley Thurman
Mitch Tiras
Emily Tobolowsky
Mark Trachtenberg
John E. Tyrrell
Rob Walters
Charlene Wandrisco
Kristin Walker-Probst
Steve Walkowiak
Dan Wall
Johnny Ward
Bruce Wark
Erika Weinberg
Mark Werbner
Bob Wiegand
Don R. Willett
Taylor Williams
Tom Woolsey
Meng Xi
Debbie Yee
Paul Yetter

Firms in the News

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American Airlines
AT&T
Baker Botts
Beck Redden
Belmont Interests
The Castañeda Firm
Chesapeake Energy
Chevron Phillips Chemical
Compass Group Equity
Craftsman Capital
DLA Piper
Dykema
Enterprise Products
Figari & Davenport
Finesse
Gibson Dunn
Gray Reed
Greenberg Traurig
Harris County DA
Hartline Barger
Haynes and Boone
HTI
Hunton AK
Katten
Kelly Hart
Keurig Dr Pepper
Kirkland
KRCL
Kuvare
Latham
Locke Lord
Lone Star Bank
McGuireWoods
Molina Healthcare
Munsch Hardt
Next Bridge Hyrdrocarbons
Nokia
Ocwen Financial
O'Melveny
OpTic Gaming
PepsiCo
QatarEnergy
Quinn Emanuel
Race Rock
Roberts Law
Rodriguez Law Firm
Ryan Law Partners
Sabre
SAExploration
Sidley
Skyward Specialty
Slack Davis Sanger
SMB Law
Stewart Wiegand & Owens
Susman Godfrey
T-Mobile
Transocean
United Healthcare
V&E
Ward Smith & Hill
WildFire
Winston & Strawn
Womble
Worlds Enterprises
Yetter Coleman

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