Courthouse News Service • 16th October 2025

Texas governor sending National Guard to 'No Kings' protest

The protest at the state Capitol is part of a series of nationwide demonstrations against President Donald Trump's agenda set to occur Saturday.AUSTIN, Texas (CN) ­— Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced Thursday that he is deploying both the Texas National Guard and Department of Public Safety officers to Austin ahead of a “No Kings” protest planned at the state Capitol on Saturday.The protest is part of a nationwide series of demonstrations set to occur that day opposing President Donald Trump’...

Courthouse News Service • 8th October 2025

Texas property owners ask Fifth Circuit to restore suit over chemical plant blasts

Almost 800 property owners have brought suit against the chemical company Arkema, claiming a series of explosions at the company's Houston-area plant during Hurricane Harvey contaminated their property with toxic chemicals.(CN) — A U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel appeared skeptical Wednesday of an attempt by hundreds of Texas property owners to resurrect a lawsuit over a series of explosions at a Houston-area chemical plant during Hurricane Harvey after a federal judge ruled the lawsui...

Courthouse News Service • 7th October 2025

Pharma group asks Fifth Circuit to ax Medicare drug price negotiation

Pharmaceutical companies argue the negotiation program, in which the government sets how much the federal health insurance program for seniors will pay for certain high-cost drugs, is unconstitutional.(CN) — A lobby group for drug manufacturers asked a U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel Tuesday to block Medicare's ability to negotiate drug prices under the Inflation Reduction Act, arguing the negotiation scheme violates the Constitution by blocking judicial review and imposing excessive f...

Courthouse News Service • 6th October 2025

Man shot by police after disarming shooter asks Fifth Circuit to restore suit

The Texas man claims he was shot by an Laredo police officer despite yelling that he wasn't the shooter.(CN) — A Texas man who was shot by a police officer after disarming a gunman who broke into his home is challenging a federal judge’s ruling that the officer’s actions were objectively reasonable.Jorge Martinez asked a U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel Monday to reverse the judge’s ruling and send the case back to the lower court for a trial.His attorney, David Flores, told the panel U...

Courthouse News Service • 30th September 2025

Texas judge says guns can't be banned from post offices

(CN) — The U.S. government cannot constitutionally keep people from carrying guns in and around post offices, a Texas federal judge ruled Tuesday, finding that such restrictions lack a historical basis.In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor cited the U.S Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which set a new standard for Second Amendment cases whereby gun restrictions have to be “consistent with this nation’s historical tradition” in order to...

Courthouse News Service • 5th September 2025

A young girl’s testimony put a man behind bars. Did she lie?

She accused John Kinsel of sexually abusing her, then changed her story. Kinsel is still in prison almost 20 years after she recanted — but now, he may be getting a real chance at freedom.(CN) — In 1999, 12-year-old Alyssa Medlin told a Louisiana jury a horrific story. For three years, she said, her mother’s boyfriend John Kinsel had sexually abused her.Her own mother thought she was lying. She, Medlin’s aunt and Medlin’s grandfather all testified they’d never seen Kinsel behave inappropriately...

Courthouse News • 20th August 2025

Judge blocks Texas law requiring Ten Commandments in classrooms

The judge's order temporarily prohibits 11 Texas school districts from complying with the law, which the judge found is likely unconstitutional.(CN) — A federal judge issued an order Wednesday temporarily blocking 11 Texas school districts from complying with a new state law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms, finding the law likely violates the First Amendment.Senate Bill 10, which Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed in June and is set to take effect Sept. 1, r...

Courthouse News • 4th August 2025

Hobby distillers fight for the right to make moonshine

The federal government is challenging a federal judge's ruling that an 150-year-old ban on distilling spirits at home is unconstitutional.(CN) — For over 150 years, federal law has prohibited would-be moonshiners from distilling liquor at home. That may be coming to an end, however, as last year a federal judge in Texas found the law unconstitutional.Attorney Andrew Grossman urged a Fifth Circuit panel Monday to uphold the lower court ruling, arguing the law exceeds federal taxing power. He repr...

Courthouse News • 1st August 2025

BlackRock, other asset managers must face Republicans’ climate conspiracy suit

A coalition of Republican states targeted the "Big Three" investment firms' participation in initiatives aimed at lowering greenhouse gas emissions.(CN) — A Texas federal judge ruled Friday that a group of Republican state attorneys general can proceed with most of a lawsuit accusing three of the world's largest investment companies of violating antitrust laws by participating in climate initiatives.A coalition of 11 Republican attorneys general, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, filed a...

Courthouse News • 24th July 2025

Robert Roberson asks Texas appeals court to delay October execution

Advocates have fought for years to halt death row inmate Robert Roberson's execution, arguing he was wrongfully convicted in the death of his two-year-old daughter.(CN) — Death row inmate Robert Roberson asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Thursday to stop his scheduled execution, which a judge set last week for Oct. 16.In a motion for stay of execution, Roberson asked the court to delay his execution to give the court time to consider his pending habeas corpus application."The need for f...

Courthouse News • 11th July 2025

Trump defends flood response during Texas visit

When asked by a reporter about flood victims' families’ concerns that alerts didn’t go out in time, Trump said "only an evil person would ask a question like that."(CN) — During a visit to Central Texas following devastating flooding on July 4, President Donald Trump on Friday lashed out at a reporter who questioned whether there were sufficient warnings before the floods.“Several families we heard from are obviously upset because they say those warnings, those alerts didn’t go out in time, and...

Courthouse News • 30th June 2025

Fifth Circuit considers Trump’s use of Alien Enemies Act to deport immigrants

Serious doubts have been raised about the validity of evidence used by the Trump administration to substantiate Tren de Aragua membership in Alien Enemies Act cases.(CN) — In a hearing Monday in New Orleans, Louisiana, on whether the Trump administration can invoke the Alien Enemies Act to summarily remove Venezuelans it declares are members of the gang Tren de Aragua, Fifth Circuit Judge Andrew Oldham indicated he believes courts can't review the government's determination that an individual is...

Courthouse News • 27th June 2025

Texas Supreme Court blesses Methodist Church suit over SMU schism

(CN) — The Texas Supreme Court gave the Methodist Church a green light Friday to sue to regain control over Southern Methodist University, which voted to break from the church in 2019.The Dallas-based university, which currently enrolls over 12,000 students and has a $2.2 billion endowment, was founded over 100 years ago by what is now the United Methodist Church. SMU's articles of incorporation previously stated that it was "to be forever owned, maintained and controlled" by the church's South...

Courthouse News • 24th June 2025

Care.com settles FTC case for $8 million

Affected consumers will receive refunds pursuant to a settlement the Federal Trade Commission reached last year with the online caregiver marketplace, which the FTC accused of deceptive marketing practices and making it deliberately difficult for users to cancel subscriptions.(CN) — The Federal Trade Commission announced on Tuesday that it would distribute more than $8 million in refunds to consumers as part of a settlement agreement with the caregiver gig platform Care.com.Care.com is an online...

Courthouse News • 23rd June 2025

Texas governor signs bill critics call modern-day ‘alien land law’

The law bans people from certain countries from buying property in the state.(CN) — Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill Saturday banning people from countries deemed national security threats from purchasing or acquiring property in the state, a move critics say discriminates against certain immigrants.Senate Bill 17 applies to individuals domiciled in countries identified as security risks by the U.S. Director of National Intelligence in one of the three most recent Annual Threat Assessmen...

Courthouse News • 20th June 2025

Texas Supreme Court won’t ground pilot lawsuit against Boeing

The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association claims the airplane manufacturer lied to it about the safety of its controversial 737 Max.(CN) — A divided Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that a pilot union's multimillion dollar lawsuit against Boeing can continue, rejecting the airplane manufacturer's arguments that the union lacked standing to sue on behalf of its members or that federal law preempted its claims.The case centers around Boeing's infamous 737 Max planes, two of which crashed in 2018 a...

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...