Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
The Fifth Court of Appeals this week granted an emergency motion to stay a trial court’s order that would have required Sun Holdings and affiliated companies to post a more than $150 million supersedeas bond before appealing a $30.7 million jury verdict against it.
Speaking to members of both chambers at the Texas Capitol Wednesday morning, Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock launched his speech by asking that lawmakers approve an across-the-board 30 percent increase in pay for judges at all levels. That increase would take Texas from having the 48th lowest paid judiciary to the 31st out of 50 states, he said.
Bill Pedersen III joins Carter Arnett after serving one term as a justice on the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas. In an interview with The Texas Lawbook, Pedersen called the firm a “go-to litigation boutique” and said he couldn’t pass up the chance to join its ranks.
Just days after Elon Musk said “it is time” to consider impeaching federal judges who block President Donald Trump’s government reform initiatives, at least six federal judges in Texas and many more of their clerks and staff received so-called “DOGE emails” the past two days demanding that they justify their jobs by providing explanations of the work that they did last week. The federal judges, who spoke to The Texas Lawbook on the condition that they not be identified, said the emails created “incredible unease and stress” and caused many of the clerks and staff to ask whether their positions were in danger of being eliminated. The email from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management told the recipients to reply with five bullet points listing their work accomplishments and to copy their supervisor. In a statement posted on the social media platform that he owns, Musk wrote, “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
Once a year or so, the U.S. Supreme Court appoints a lawyer to advocate a legal position that none of the active parties in the case favor but that needs to be addressed. The justices did just that Thursday.
In the litigation initiated by self-described government watchdog group American Oversight, the Texas Supreme Court is being asked to determine whether trial courts have jurisdiction to order the governor and attorney general to release information under the Public Information Act. American Oversight turned to the courts to get access to communications surrounding two events: the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol and the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde.
For 45 minutes Wednesday, the state’s highest court questioned lawyers on both sides of the dispute about whether the entire litigation should be dismissed or whether it should proceed toward trial.
The Texas Supreme Court on Wednesday morning was told there isn’t enough evidence that the construction of a pipe manufacturing plant in rural Matagorda County was the cause of flooding that damaged several neighboring homes during Hurricane Harvey.
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