Texas Tribes to Supreme Court: Sovereignty Means B-I-N-G-O
Texas tribes will argue Tuesday that the Fifth Circuit was wrong to allow state regulation of games like Bingo on reservations that are not otherwise banned by Texas law.
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 In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an unpublished and unsigned opinion ordering a federal judge in Fort Worth to reconsider issuing a preliminary injunction against the Chicago-based airline.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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.