Justices on the newly created court engaged in spirited questioning over appeals involving DPS’ Uvalde school shooting records, the AG’s biometric data case against Google, and the firing of a Crowley ISD teacher who pinned down a student. Lawmakers gave the court broad authority over appeals involving the state and cases from the new business courts.
The Ghosts of Loper Bright
October was a fitting month for the Court to take up the ghost gun case. After all, the discretion left to an administrative agency after Loper Bright might be as elusive as a spirit in the night.
SCOTUS Vacates Fifth Circuit Opinion in Citizen Journalist Case
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s win-loss record in cases reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court is already in the red and it is only mid-October. The Supreme Court has vacated the Fifth Circuit opinion written by appellate Judge Edith Jones earlier this year that held that Laredo law enforcement officers who arrested a citizen-journalist in 2017 for asking for information deemed non-public cannot be sued for violating the First Amendment rights of the reporter because the officers have qualified immunity.
Lawyer for Foster Care Children Will Appeal Fifth Circuit Rejection
The lead lawyer for tens of thousands of foster care children in Texas said Sunday that he will appeal a decision handed down Friday by a federal appeals court removing the federal judge who has overseen the litigation for 13 years and whose orders have forced Texas officials to greatly improve how they investigate accusations of abuse in the state’s foster care system.
Houston trial lawyer Paul Yetter told The Texas Lawbook in an interview Sunday that he believes the opinion by the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit focuses too much on procedure and not enough on specific evidence involving dozens of mentally challenged and disabled children in the foster care system who remain in serious danger because of the lack of attention from Texas officials.