INSIDER
The new DA campaigned on seeking the death penalty for the 2019 massacre, but said he offered the gunman a plea deal of life in prison to avoid dragging out the case for several more years.
People in Maverick County spend months in jail waiting to be charged with minor crimes. Some are simply lost in the system
Judge Lee H. Rosenthal said the student group that organizes Draggieland, the Queer Empowerment Council, was likely to succeed in showing the ban violates the First Amendment.
Supporters say diversity initiatives close educational and income gaps born from a history of prejudice. Republican officials say they prioritize identity over merit.
The attorney general office’s lawsuit is based on an undercover video published in February by a conservative activist group.
Per the attorney general’s nonbinding opinion, state agencies should change gender markers on government documents back to a person’s sex assigned at birth.
Proposed legislation includes increased penalties for retail theft, car burglaries and forgery, among others.
The Biden administration had challenged a Republican-led redistricting plan that diluted the political power of minorities. Other legal challenges will continue.
Brittany Marlowe Holberg was convicted in 1998 of robbing and murdering an 80-year-old man in his Amarillo home. The appeals court said critical evidence was withheld.
Texas’ indigent defense commission wants lawmakers to spend $35 million on public defender offices in rural areas, but some say that isn’t nearly enough to ensure compliance with the U.S. Constitution.
Here’s how federal courts help determine the fate of controversial issues, such as immigration laws, in Texas and beyond.
Ruben Gutierrez wants to be able to sue prosecutors to compel them to test evidence that he says will prove he did not kill a Brownsville woman in 1998.
The package was fast-tracked after Gov. Greg Abbott declared “bail reform” an emergency item. The bills now head to the House for consideration.
The appeal includes new testimony from experts who say Roberson’s daughter died of natural causes, and cites the court’s exoneration of a man in another shaken baby syndrome case out of Dallas County.
Three Republican judges heard oral arguments Wednesday after a lower court blocked Attorney General Ken Paxton’s efforts to depose the charity’s leader.
The new injunction prohibits advertising and age verification restrictions in the SCOPE Act, which aims to make social media safer for teenagers.
Steven Lawayne Nelson maintained that he unknowingly participated in the violent church robbery but didn’t harm anyone. His execution was the state’s first for 2025.
The agency’s reversal comes after a federal judge told the Trump administration it must continue to pay for grants and other programs it abruptly froze last month.
The decision to halt the program could prevent thousands of people detained in immigration detention centers from receiving legal advice.
Dr. Eithan Haim of Dallas had faced four counts for wrongfully disclosing the individually identifiable health information of underage patients at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.
The state bar had sought to sanction Paxton, which could have carried a punishment ranging from a private reprimand to disbarment.
Texas continues to lead other states on capital punishment. But the decline in new death sentences and executions reached a record low.
The Court of Criminal Appeals will rehear a case it threw out last year. Three of the judges became targets of Attorney General Ken Paxton over another ruling and lost reelection.
The Supreme Court’s decision on Texas’ law, which adult entertainment website attorneys said were the most overreaching in the country, could determine the fate of similar laws in more than a dozen other states.
The court’s ruling could boost a state law that allows drunk driving victims to sue businesses that over-serve alcohol to intoxicated individuals.
Justices on Monday heard arguments from Annunciation House, which is fighting to stay open, and the Texas Attorney General’s office, which claims the shelter’s work with migrants violates state law.
Blacklock replaces Nathan Hecht, the longest serving justice on the high court. Gov. Greg Abbott also appointed his general counsel, James Sullivan, to the bench.
Over 35 years, Hecht modernized the court, increased access to justice for the poor and saw his conservative views come to dominate the bench.
The attorney general is accusing the organization of misleading fans by allowing transgender college athletes in women’s sports.
Attorney General Ken Paxton sought to delay legal proceedings until Jan. 13 — the day before the committee disbands — even as lawmakers vowed to continue fighting to hear from Roberson.
The motion escalates a tense standoff between Paxton and a bipartisan Texas House committee, which had subpoenaed Roberson to testify at the Capitol on Friday.
The new subpoena comes after lawmakers say Ken Paxton’s office stalled a previous effort to get Roberson’s legislative testimony about his conviction in “shaken baby” case.
Paxton’s office has accused 3M and DuPont of misrepresenting or concealing the health risks of PFAS, which have been sold for decades for use in consumer products.
The temporary injunction issued Monday would affect roughly 90,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients in Texas.
Senior District Judge Deborah Oakes Evans recused herself after a challenge to her impartiality over longtime relationships with case prosecutors and judges.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had sued the Biden administration after Border Patrol agents had cut the razor wire.
The attorney general has agreed not to contest a lawsuit brought by former employees accusing him of retaliation after they said he abused his office.
Roberson was convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter in a “shaken baby” case that many say led to an innocent man’s death sentence.
The state’s highest civil court ruled that legislators can’t use subpoenas to block death row inmates’ executions, but suggested there’s still time for Roberson to testify before a Texas House panel.
The AG also said he’d make a criminal referral against the lawmaker, who apologized for texting a Court of Criminal Appeals judge about a new trial for the death row inmate.
Members of a Texas House committee say in a Texas Supreme Court filing that Paxton’s office is blocking the death row inmate from complying with a legislative subpoena.
The lawsuit claims the endangered designation for six mussel species is a misuse of environmental law that threatens Texas’ economy.
A candidate running against the judge accused him of emailing his students at Texas State to vote for him. State law prohibits using public resources for political advertising.
Texas’ junk science statute has remained hamstrung for the last decade. So too have other criminal justice reforms, despite efforts from the Texas House.
Hazel Eileen Diaz received nearly $40,000 in cash and money transfers for letting human smugglers use her rental properties.
Marcus Silva and the women agreed to drop lawsuits against each other just days before they were set to go to trial.
Todd Smith was indicted in 2022 on felony charges of theft and commercial bribery related to taking money in exchange for hemp licenses that are issued by Miller’s office.
The new videos largely affirm prior reporting and investigations that detailed law enforcement’s failures to confront the gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers.
A federal judge had ruled Senate Bill 1 unconstitutional, but an appeals court says the law can remain in effect as Texas appeals that previous decision
Attorney General Ken Paxton has investigated at least five organizations this year that do immigration-related work.
Dozens of districts sued Texas saying the ratings painted an unfair picture of their schools. Others voluntarily have released their own.
The card game company crowd-funded money to buy the land in an attempt to block a portion of Donald Trump’s border wall.
Paxton sued Dallas and state fair officials last month, arguing the fair’s private organizer had violated state law by banning firearms on the fairgrounds.
Pete Arredondo’s lawyers tell the court that the shooter, not the police, was to blame for the school violence.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court, argues that the 2021 so-called “anti-ESG” law discriminates against specific political views.
Biden announced the program in June and Republicans in 16 states filed suit. The federal judge issued an order that puts the program on hold for at least two weeks.
Paxton’s office claimed the group broke rules prohibiting political activity by nonprofits, but the judge rejected the case outright.
The Texas Department of Public Safety rule change surfaced in an internal email that also asks driver license staff to compile the names of people seeking a gender marker change.
Attorney General Ken Paxton has targeted similar organizations that aid migrants at the border. The lawsuit appears to be the first to focus on political speech and rules that govern nonprofits.
The Texas Attorney General is following his familiar playbook by taking the case to a federal judge with a record of rulings against the Biden administration’s agenda.
The decision in the case brought by the Texas Attorney General preempts any future Title IX regulations that extend federal protections to LGBTQ students.
The ruling marks the fifth consecutive year Texas families have not received a full picture of their schools’ ratings, which are used to determine how they are performing.
The city’s release ends a legal battle with news outlets, but other government agencies are withholding materials.
Texas Health and Human Services could face $100,000-per-day fines for violating a judge's orders. The state wants the judge off the case.
In a lawsuit challenging redistricting in Galveston County, the 5th Circuit said the protections afforded to a single racial group don’t apply to multiple groups who collectively claim voting rights violations.
Three other cities have passed similar measures but the Texas AG and others question whether they can be enforced because of conflicts with state law.
Ruben Gutierrez was sentenced to death for the 1998 Brownsville murder of an elderly woman. His execution was stayed in July.
A federal judge has taken the Texas’ foster care system to task for 13 years. Reforms have been made. Now armed with private legal fire power, the state wants the judge off the case.
A doctor says the government wants to punish him for calling attention to wrongdoing. Advocates say the families of trans kids are the ones at risk.
A state law passed last year requires pornographic websites to adopt age-verification measures, leading sites like Pornhub to block user access in Texas.
Former schools police chief Pete Arredondo faces 10 criminal charges, while former school district officer Adrian Gonzales faces 29 counts.
Parents and medical providers of transgender adolescents sued Texas, challenging the constitutionality of a restriction on puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
The ruling comes amid a nationwide surge in homelessness as high rents put pressure on low-income households and pandemic-era protections expire.
Justices ruled that the federal government did not violate a Texas man’s Second Amendment rights when barring him from possessing firearms.
Sylvia Gonzalez alleged the city of Castle Hills had arrested her on a minor charge in retaliation for criticizing the city manager.
Texas argues that Annunciation House is breaking state law by harboring undocumented immigrants, something the shelter's lawyers called "utter nonsense."
Both Democrats and Republicans have criticized the order, which limits asylum requests when illegal border crossings ramp up.
