Dissent Calls Fifth Circuit Decision an ‘Orgy of Jurisprudential Violence’

Two appellate judges ruled Thursday that United Airlines’ requirement that its employees be vaccinated causes “irreparable harm” to pilots and flight attendants who claim religious objections. In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an unpublished and unsigned opinion ordering a federal judge in Fort Worth to reconsider issuing a preliminary injunction against the Chicago-based airline.

In dissent, Judge Jerry Smith called the majority opinion “absurd," argued that it creates a new cause of action for every private employee in the Fifth Circuit and stated he would hide his "head in a bag" if he had written the majority's opinion.

February 17, 2022 Mark Curriden

Fifth Circuit Judge Ho Defends Legal Scholar Who Said a ‘Lesser Black Woman’ Might Join SCOTUS

Judge James Ho said he was scheduled to talk about originalism on Tuesday at Georgetown University, but instead decided to talk about the libertarian scholar Ilya Shapiro, who came under fire for recent comments on President Biden's pledge to appoint a black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“I would submit that, if I were a law student today, and I strongly disagreed with remarks made by someone who had just recently been hired by my law school, the last thing I would do is to call for that person to be fired," Ho said.

February 16, 2022 Tony Mauro

Food Fight: Texas and Biden Administration Squabble Over Broccoli and Ketchup in a SCOTUS Case

Texas and the Biden administration are often at legal odds with each other. But one dispute in briefs filed with the U.S. Supreme Court last week takes the cake.

February 7, 2022 Tony Mauro

Alexander Dubose & Jefferson Adds Former 14th COA Staff Attorney

ADJ Managing Partner Marcy Hogan Greer said in a statement that Hurd’s “unique understanding of the workings of the appeals process” will “undoubtedly be of great benefit to our clients.”

February 1, 2022 Brooks Igo

In Memoriam: Zenobia Viola Harris Bivens (1981-2022)

Zenobia Bivens died last month at the age of 40. The Houston appellate lawyer worked with President Barack Obama, Judge Carl Stewart of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and former Texas Supreme Court Justice Dale Wainwright over her career. In addition to leading Frost Brown Todd's Houston expansion, she was committed to pro bono advocacy work and championed a groundbreaking internship program with Rice University.

February 1, 2022 Cleve Glenn

Houston Lawyer Reminisces: Learning Spanish with Justice Breyer

The Gibbs & Bruns associate was one of very few – maybe the only – law clerks from Texas who worked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

January 27, 2022 Tony Mauro

Former Houston Appellate Justice Takes Aim and Fires at Fort Worth Court’s ‘Unethical’ Opinion

“In almost five decades as a lawyer,” former Houston appellate justice Murry Cohen concluded in an amicus brief this week to the Texas Supreme Court, “I’ve read plenty of bad opinions. In almost two decades as an appellate judge, I surely wrote some. None was near this offensive.” Rather than press a position in the case before the Supreme Court, Cohen argued the Fort Worth Court of Appeals justices who decided the case should be admonished for unethical commentary that had nothing to do with the decision.

January 25, 2022 Osler McCarthy

In Memoriam: Sharon Nelson Freytag (1943-2022)

Sharon Freytag, a founding member of Haynes and Boone's appellate group, died last week at the age of 78. She was a powerful writer, gifted oral advocate, generous mentor and respected leader in the bar. One client said she was "like Jackie O. as a sniper – classy but deadly!"

January 24, 2022 Anne Johnson

Divided Fifth Circuit Panel Sends Abortion Law Challenge to SCOTX

The circuit court certified a question to the Texas Supreme Court asking how far state law allows certain state officials, particularly licensing officials, to go in enforcing violations of Senate Bill 8.

January 19, 2022 Osler McCarthy

Appellate 2021 Year in Review: SCOTX and the Fifth Circuit

Year two of the pandemic brought a gradual return to “normal” operations at the Texas Supreme Court and Fifth Circuit. Virtual arguments – in many cases – transitioned to in-person oral arguments. The Fifth Circuit issued important guidance on certifying FLSA collective actions, rejected the so-called fraudulent misjoinder doctrine and clarified standards for federal jurisdiction in the arbitration context. The Texas Supreme Court issued key contract formation cases, refined the standards for determining when courts and agencies have jurisdiction to decide tort claims in the electric-power context and provided guidance on key procedural questions under the TCPA. The Haynes and Boone appellate team has full details.

January 18, 2022 Ben Mesches, Brian Singleterry & Alicia Pitts

SCOTUS is Set to Consider Ted Cruz’s Campaign-Finance Law Challenge

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz returns to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday as a party -- not as a practitioner -- to argue federal campaign-finance limits violate his First Amendment rights. At issue: a 20-year-old federal law that prohibits candidates from raising more than $250,000 after an election to repay a personal loan to their campaigns.

January 17, 2022 Tony Mauro

Fifth Circuit Reverses Houston Lawyer’s Tax Evasion Conviction

Although the case "facts were difficult," the Fifth Circuit vacated a tax evasion conviction of Houston lawyer Jack Stephen Pursley on a simple premise: a statute of limitations defense that the three-judge panel said was erroneously shot down by the trial court without analysis.

January 14, 2022 Natalie Posgate