Texas attorney general cannot unilaterally prosecute election cases, state's highest criminal court rules
The 8-1 decision came Wednesday from the all-Republican Court of Criminal Appeals. Full Story
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![The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Jan. 15, 2020.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Houston-area school district drops gender-based policy on long hair
The change comes after Magnolia ISD was sued by six boys and a nonbinary student for alleged discrimination. Full Story
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![Danielle Miller hugs her child as the family prepares for school in their home in Magnolia on Oct. 21, 2021.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
Key Texas abortion opponent sees Supreme Court decision as validation to keep fighting
Mark Lee Dickson helped Texas towns ban abortion. On Friday, the Supreme Court declined to block a state law modeled on his ordinance. “We can go anywhere now,” he said. Full Story
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![Mark Lee Dickson bows his head as Pastor Scott Beard prays during a worship service at the FountainGate Fellowship church in Abilene on Sunday.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
TribCast: Breaking down the Supreme Court's ruling on the Texas abortion law
On this week's episode, Matthew and Reese make sense of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision and what it means for abortion in Texas. Full Story
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![Anti-abortion supporters clash with pro-choice activists outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 1, 2021.]()
Credit: Eric Lee for The Texas Tribune -
Texas’ long fight over abortion rights continues with Supreme Court ruling
Texas, the birthplace of Roe v. Wade, has been at the forefront of major battles over abortion access ever since. Friday’s ruling ensures the state remains on the frontlines. Full Story
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![Megan Field holds a sign during the Womenís March ATX at the Texas Capitol in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021. Thousands of people attended the rally in support of womenís reproductive health and access to safe abortions.]()
Credit: Chelsea Purgahn for The Texas Tribune -
“Every constitutional right is now at risk": Legal experts warn Supreme Court action on Texas abortion law could lead to copycats
Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the majority was straying from the court’s precedent to step in when state laws chill the exercise of constitutional rights while allowing other states to follow suit. Full Story
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![Marc Hearron, Senior Counsel for the Center for Reproductive Rights, and Julie Murray, Senior Staff Attorney at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, speak at a press conference outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 1, 2021.]()
Credit: Eric Lee for The Texas Tribune -
U.S. Supreme Court lets enforcement of Texas abortion law continue but allows legal challenges to proceed
The court allowed the suit to continue on an 8-1 decision. Abortion providers will resume seeking to block the law as it progresses through lower court proceedings. Full Story
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![Anti-abortion and pro-abortion rights activists protest outside the Supreme Court building, ahead of arguments in the Mississippi abortion rights case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 1, 2021.]()
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State judge declares Texas abortion law unconstitutional — but does not stop it from being enforced
The fate of the statute remains uncertain. An appeal to the ruling is already underway, and an opinion on the law from the U.S. Supreme Court is still pending. Full Story
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![A Planned Parenthood examination room at Planned Parenthood's South Austin location on Jan. 14, 2020.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: Texas’ population has changed much faster than its political maps
Texas’ population has grown 40% this century, and 91% of the new Texans are people of color. Federal judges now have to decide whether those monumental changes are reflected in the state’s political maps. Full Story
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![Census data from 2020 and redistricting maps at The Texas Tribune office in Austin on Oct. 7, 2021. The state population grew by nearly 4 million and was driven mainly by people of color.]()
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Federal judge blocks Texas law that would stop social media firms from banning users for a "viewpoint"
The law was passed this year after outcry from Republicans over perceived anti-conservative bias among major tech companies. Full Story
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![Social media app icons on a smartphone.]()
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Texas’ ban on mask mandates in public schools back in place after federal appeals court ruling
Three-judge panel finds no "concrete, or actual or imminent, injury" caused by Abbott's ban on mask mandates. Full Story
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![Fifth graders at Jacob’s Well Elementary School in Wimberley during a reading exercise. Some students participated in the exercise at home. Sept. 4, 2020.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Texas abortion funds struggle to meet demand for out-of-state abortion assistance
But some Texas nonprofit groups dedicated to paying for the medical costs of abortion say they have more money than patients to give it to — a likely symptom of fewer people being able to access the procedure because of the new law. Full Story
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![A sign advertising an organization that offers services to abortion patients is on the wall at Whole Women’s Health of Austin on Sept. 1, 2021.]()
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Judge blocks Biden administration's COVID-19 vaccination mandate for health care workers after Texas, other states sue
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had called the mandate “an unprecedented federal vaccine decree” on health care workers. Full Story
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![Protesters ralled against Houston Methodist Hospital's COVID-19 vaccine mandate outside the Baytown facility on June 7, 2021. Several employees who chose not to inoculate themselves worked their last shift Monday and will face job termination, a policy criticized by the protesters as unfair and unauthorized.]()
Credit: Pu Ying Huang for The Texas Tribune -
The Supreme Court appears open to rolling back abortion rights. Here's what that means for Texas.
Texas has passed legislation that ensures abortion would be made a felony if Roe v. Wade is overturned “wholly or partly,” as the court considers Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban. Full Story
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![Barriers surrounded the Supreme Court ahead of planned demonstrations regarding abortion in Texas in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 1, 2021.]()
Credit: Eric Lee for The Texas Tribune -
Fewer patients, smaller staff, an uncertain future: abortion providers await court decision on Texas law
For two months, providers have had to work in a sort of limbo as they wait to see if the new law passes the Supreme Court's review. Full Story
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![An ultrasound machine sits next to an empty patient's bed at Whole Women’s Health of Austin on Sept. 1, 2021.]()
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Texas schools can again set their own face mask rules after federal judge overrules Gov. Greg Abbott's ban
The judge said the governor's order impedes children with disabilities from the benefits of public schools’ programs, services and activities, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Full Story
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![Declan True listens to kindergarten teacher Mrs. Hogan on the first day of in-person classes at Highland Village Elementary on Sept. 8, 2020.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
A state district court judge hears over a dozen challenges to Texas’ abortion law Wednesday
Abortion rights groups are asking the court to declare Texas’ law unconstitutional. It's unclear what the outcome of this latest challenge against the controversial law will be or what weight it could hold overall. Full Story
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![Several dozen people showed up at the Capitol to protest Texas' controversial anti-abortion law on Sept. 11, 2021.]()
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Analysis: Texas Republican lawmakers pleased most of their own voters, most of the time
They didn't make a majority of Texas voters happy on a single issue, but the Republican majority in the Legislature made most of their own voters happy — and then drew maps that minimize political threats to them in the November general election. Full Story
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![Voters at the Alvord City Hall, an early voting site in Alvord on Oct. 28, 2020.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
U.S. Supreme Court justices appear reluctant to loosen restrictions on religious advisers during Texas executions
The latest Texas execution protocols forbid spiritual advisers from praying aloud or touching prisoners as the prisoners are killed. Some members of the high court said they feared overturning the rules would lead to a flood of requests for other religious accommodations during executions. Full Story
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![Supreme Court police officers walk alongside protective barriers in Washington D.C., on Nov. 1, 2021.]()
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U.S. Supreme Court weighs religion’s place in the Texas death chamber
After halting three Texas executions because of limits placed on spiritual advisers in the death chamber, the high court will hear arguments today over what religious rights the state must accord inmates as it kills them. Full Story
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![The Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 1, 2021.]()
Credit: Eric Lee for The Texas Tribune