Courthouse News • 19th June 2025

Texas federal judge strikes down Biden-era abortion privacy rule

The rule prohibited health plans and providers from disclosing information regarding abortion and other reproductive health care to civil or criminal investigators if the treatment was legal in the state it was performed in.(CN) — A Trump-appointed federal judge struck down portions of a 2024 rule from the Department of Health and Human Services Wednesday that provided privacy protections for information related to reproductive health care like abortion and gender-affirming treatments.U.S. Distr...

Courthouse News • 4th June 2025

Texas officials seek immunity from Operation Lone Star lawsuit over migrant detention

The lawsuit claims migrants arrested as part of the state's border security crackdown were unlawfully kept in jail after they were eligible for release.(CN) — Texas state and county officials told a U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel Wednesday that a lower court erred in denying them qualified immunity in a lawsuit claiming they kept migrants detained through Texas's Operation Lone Star long after they were eligible for release.The lawsuit focuses on two Texas border counties, Kinney Coun...

Courthouse News • 3rd June 2025

Rwandan activist seeks to relaunch suit against charter airline over kidnapping plot

Paul Rusesabagina, who inspired the film "Hotel Rwanda," claims GainJet conspired with the Rwandan government to abduct him to the African country, where he says he was wrongfully imprisoned and tortured.(CN) — A lawyer for Rwandan human rights activist Paul Rusesabagina told a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel Tuesday that a lower court erred in dismissing his client's lawsuit against a charter airplane company Rusesabagina claims helped the Rwandan government abduct him on jurisdictional gr...

Courthouse News • 2nd June 2025

Sex shops ask Fifth Circuit to strip Texas age limit on workers

Companies like strip clubs and adult bookstores argue not letting them employ 18- to 20-year-olds violates the First Amendment.(CN) — Sexually oriented businesses told a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel Monday that a Texas law banning them from employing adults under age 21 violates their freedom of speech, arguing that a lower court erred in upholding the law as constitutional.In his 2024 ruling, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman of the Western District of Texas found that S.B. 315, a law p...

Courthouse News • 30th May 2025

Texas high court revives AG bid to shutter migrant charity

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has accused Annunciation House of "illegal alien harboring" in a case that has raised issues of religious liberty and Fourth Amendment protections.(CN) — The Texas Supreme Court has revived an effort by state Attorney General Ken Paxton to shut down the Catholic charity Annunciation House, which Paxton accuses of illegally harboring migrants.In a Friday ruling, the court found that despite the numerous legal and constitutional arguments involved, the case in fro...

22nd May 2025

Trump backs challenge to investment firms’ climate goals

The DOJ and Federal Trade Commission have filed a statement of interest supporting a lawsuit by conservative states that argues investors' participation in climate initiatives constitutes an anticompetitive scheme to illegally raise coal prices.(CN) — The Trump administration filed a statement of interest Thursday in support of a lawsuit by conservative states challenging major investment firms' participation in climate initiatives.A coalition of 11 Republican attorneys general led by Texas Atto...

Courthouse News • 21st May 2025

Judge strikes down federal rule requiring employers to accommodate abortions

A federal judge in Louisiana found the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission exceeded its authority by including abortion in a list of pregnancy-related conditions employers are required to accommodate under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.(CN) — A Trump-appointed federal judge in Louisiana struck down a Biden-era regulation Wednesday that included abortion as a pregnancy-related condition employers are required to accommodate under federal law.U.S. District Judge David Joseph of the Western...

Courthouse News • 16th May 2025

Texas prosecutors challenge rules targeting ‘rogue’ DAs

(CN) — Democratic prosecutors are suing to block rules put forth by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that he says are designed to "hold rogue DA's accountable."The chief prosecutors for five of Texas's most populous counties — Travis County, El Paso County, Dallas County, Bexar County and Harris County — argue in petitions filed Friday in Travis County district courts that Paxton lacks the authority to issue the rules, which they say are overly burdensome and would force prosecutors to illegall...

Courthouse News • 15th May 2025

Texas federal judge strikes down transgender workplace protections

(CN) — A federal judge in Texas ruled Thursday that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission exceeded its authority by issuing a guidance providing protections for transgender employees.U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas said portions of a 2024 enforcement guidance issued by the commission regarding the definition of "sex" under Title VII and what constitutes sex-based harassment were contrary to law.The commission said in that guidance that Title VII's pr...

Courthouse News • 14th May 2025

Rights groups challenge Louisiana law requiring proof of citizenship for voting

(CN) — A coalition of civil and voting rights groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging a Louisiana law requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote.Senate Bill 436, which took effect Jan. 1, requires voter registration applicants to include proof of U.S. citizenship with their application. The groups bringing the lawsuit — the League of Women Voters of Louisiana, the League of Women Voters Education Fund, Voice of the Experienced, the NAACP Louisiana State Conference and Power Coalitio...

Courthouse News • 8th May 2025

Fifth Circuit issues mixed-bag ruling in case of flight attendant fired after sharing anti-abortion content

A federal jury had ruled in 2022 that Southwest Airlines and a union discriminated against a flight attendant for her religious practices when the airline fired her after she sent graphic anti-abortion imagery to the union's president.(CN) — A Fifth Circuit panel Thursday partially overturned a jury's ruling that Southwest Airlines engaged in religious discrimination by firing a flight attendant for sending anti-abortion messages via Facebook to the president of the airline's flight attendants'...

Courthouse News • 5th May 2025

Trump admin asks court to dismiss conservative states’ abortion pill lawsuit

Though largely for procedural reasons, Trump's Justice Department is taking up the defense of regulation changes increasing access to medication abortions.(CN) — In a move suggesting that, at least for now, President Donald Trump's DOJ will continue the Biden administration's position of defending access to the abortion drug mifepristone, the government asked a Texas federal court Monday to dismiss a lawsuit by conservative states challenging Food and Drug administration decisions on the drug.Th...

Courthouse News • 1st May 2025

Trump appointee rules president unlawfully invoked Alien Enemies Act

The judge found that Trump has not sufficiently alleged the existence of an "invasion" or "predatory incursion" under the act.(CN) — A Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas ruled Thursday that the president has unlawfully invoked the Alien Enemies Act to send Venezuelans the administration claims are gang members to a prison in El Salvador.U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. of the Southern District of Texas, whom President Donald Trump appointed to the federal bench during his first ter...

Courthouse News • 29th April 2025

Pharmacy rep challenges conviction in $60M kickback scheme

Quintan Cockerell was convicted in 2023 of what prosecutors said was a scheme to steal millions of dollars from federal health care programs by convincing doctors to issue pricey prescriptions.(CN) — A pharmaceutical marketer who was convicted of participating in a $60 million health care fraud scheme told a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel Tuesday that he had done nothing illegal, arguing that he was merely paid to advertise pharmacies to doctors."Marketing is not criminal. Payments for mar...

Courthouse News • 28th April 2025

At Fifth Circuit, Trader Joe’s defends firing worker who complained about insufficient Covid-19 policies

The National Labor Relations Board found the employee was terminated in retaliation for complaining about what she viewed as inadequate safety procedures, but the grocery chain claims she was fired for bullying coworkers.(CN) — Grocery chain Trader Joe's told a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel Monday that it was justified in firing an employee who raised concerns about what she felt were inadequate Covid-19 safety policies at her store, arguing the National Labor Relations Board should not h...

Courthouse News • 15th April 2025

With Trump administration’s approval, court axes credit card late fee cap

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a rule last year limiting late fees to $8, but on Monday it joined a coalition of industry groups in asking a court to vacate the rule.FORT WORTH, Texas (CN) — A federal judge in Texas Tuesday granted a joint motion by the Trump administration and a coalition of banking and business groups to vacate a Biden-era rule limiting credit card late fees to $8.The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized the rule last year as part of an effort by the...

Courthouse News • 9th April 2025

Federal judge blocks Alien Enemies Act removals from Texas facility

The centuries-old Alien Enemies Act has only been invoked a few times in U.S. history and only during legitimate wartime — since it is a wartime authority.(CN) — A day after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for President Donald Trump to resume sending Venezuelans accused of gang membership to a prison in El Salvador, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking such removals for immigrants held in the El Valle Detention Center in Raymondville, Texas.According to news repor...

Courthouse News • 4th April 2025

Texas AG sues San Antonio over funding for abortion travel

The San Antonio City Council has voted to fast-track the approval of $100,000 for a reproductive health fund, some of which could be used to help people travel to other states for abortions.(CN) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the city of San Antonio on Friday, accusing the municipality of undermining Texas law through a fund that could help people travel out of state to get abortions.“The city of San Antonio is blatantly defying Texas law by using taxpayer dollars to...

Courthouse News • 2nd April 2025

Fifth Circuit hears arguments on right to clean drinking water

(CN) — Attorneys for Jackson, Mississippi, and a group of city residents argued before a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel Wednesday over whether city officials violated residents' constitutional rights by allegedly covering up dangerous lead levels in the city's drinking water.A Mississippi federal judge dismissed a putative class action lawsuit last year brought on behalf of Jackson residents over high levels of lead in the city's water. U.S. District Judge Kristi Johnson found that the cit...

Courthouse News • 31st March 2025

Boeing parts manufacturer battles Texas AG over state records law

A federal judge ruled last year that Texas's "request to examine" statute, which Attorney General Ken Paxton has frequently used to investigate businesses and non-profits, violates the Constitution's protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.(CN) — A lawyer for the Texas Attorney General's Office told a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel Monday that a federal judge incorrectly found the state's century-old "request to examine" law unconstitutional in a case challenging the attorne...

Courthouse News • 19th March 2025

Boeing urges Texas Supreme Court to nix pilot union’s lawsuit

A union of Southwest Airlines pilots claims Boeing is liable for lost income due to the grounding of the 737 Max, but Boeing argues federal law preempts the union's claims.(CN) — Texas Supreme Court justices seemed skeptical Wednesday of Boeing's argument that federal law prevents a pilot union from suing for lost wages due to the 20-month grounding of the 737 Max planes in 2019 and 2020.Boeing argues that evaluating Southwest Airlines Pilots Association's claims against the aircraft manufacture...

Courthouse News • 25th February 2025

Fifth Circuit digs into Texas beef over congressional proxy voting

A federal judge found the House of Representatives' use of proxy voting to pass the 2023 federal spending law violated the Constitution's quorum clause.(CN) — The Department of Justice asked a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Tuesday to overturn a federal judge's ruling deeming a $1.7 trillion federal spending law unconstitutional.Department of Justice attorney Courtney Dixon told a three-judge panel that the judge's ruling on the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 was "the first tim...

Courthouse News • 24th February 2025

Activists challenge Louisiana pipeline protest law at Fifth Circuit

The law makes it a felony to enter the "premises" of a pipeline without permission, which the activists argue is unconstitutionally vague.(CN) — A three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday grilled attorneys for environmental activists and the state of Louisiana over the constitutionality of a Louisiana law restricting protests near pipelines."This is no ordinary trespass statute of the kind that U.S. courts have been accustomed to dealing with for over 200 years," attorne...

Courthouse News • 19th February 2025

Trump polls higher than his policies, new survey finds

A recent poll by the Emerson College Polling Center shows voters disapprove of many of the president's foreign and domestic policies, but his overall approval rating has not significantly shifted.(CN) — President Donald Trump's approval rating has remained largely the same despite voters disapproving of his policies, a recent survey shows.A poll of 1,000 registered voters conducted over the weekend by the nonpartisan Emerson College Polling Center found that 48% say they approve of the job Trump...