Dec 15, 2021 · The attorney general can only get involved in a case when asked to by a district or county attorney, the court said. Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican who has been aggressive in trying to ...
Oct 18, 2021 · As part of a coalition of 24 attorneys general, Attorney General James urged the U.S. Supreme Court to stop Texas’ unconstitutional six-week abortion ban, Senate Bill 8 (SB 8), by vacating a Fifth Circuit order that let the abortion ban continue to take effect. The amicus brief was filed in the case of United States of America v.
Dec 07, 2020 · Attorney General of Texas Brent Webster First Assistant Attorney General of Texas Lawrence Joseph Special Counsel to the Attorney General of Texas Office of the Attorney General P.O. Box 12548 (MC 059) Austin, TX 78711-2548 [email protected] (512) 936-1414 * Counsel of Record
Dec 07, 2020 · Attorney General of Texas Brent Webster First Assistant Attorney General of Texas Lawrence Joseph Special Counsel to the Attorney General of Texas Office of the Attorney General P.O. Box 12548 (MC 059) Austin, TX 78711-2548 [email protected] (512) 936-1414 * Counsel of Record
The Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX) is the court of last resort for civil matters (including juvenile delinquency cases, which are categorized as civil under the Texas Family Code) in the U.S. state of Texas. A different court, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA), is the court of last resort in criminal matters.
By court rule and by statute, the Supreme Court takes only appeals from a court that ruled a law unconstitutional, from a court of appeals ruling on a legal issue different from how another court of appeals ruled in the same type of case or in a matter the Court determines is important to the “jurisprudence of the ...
appellate jurisdictionJURISDICTION: The Supreme Court of Texas has statewide, final appellate jurisdiction in civil and juvenile cases, and original jurisdiction to issue writs.
The basic structure of the present court system of Texas was established by an 1891 constitutional amendment. The amendment established the Supreme Court as the highest state appellate court for civil matters, and the Court of Criminal Appeals, which makes the final determination in criminal matters.
The Supreme Court will consider only cases for which at least four of the nine justices vote to grant a “writ of certiorari,” a decision by the Supreme Court to hear an appeal from a lower court.Jan 4, 2021
Which court does not require the judge to be lawyer? state district courts.
Nathan L. Hecht is the 27th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. He has been elected to the Court seven times, first in 1988 as a Justice, and in 2014 and 2020 as Chief Justice. He is the longest-serving member of the Court in Texas history and the longest-tenured Texas judge in active service.
Composed of the chief justice and eight justices, the Supreme Court of Texas is the court of last resort for civil matters in the state. The Supreme Court is in Austin, immediately northwest of the state Capitol. Supreme Court justices are elected to staggered six-year terms in statewide elections.
What types of cases does the Texas Supreme Court hear? Civil and juvenile cases only, and at state level, it has appellate jurisdiction.
THE SUPREME COURT OF TEXAS It has statewide, final appellate jurisdiction in all civil and juvenile cases. Most of the cases heard by this Court are appeals from an appellate ruling by one of the intermediate Courts of Appeals.Sep 1, 1981
The Supreme Court has final appellate jurisdiction in civil matters while the Court of Criminal Appeals has final appellate jurisdiction for criminal matters.Feb 3, 2021
The Texas Supreme Court has jurisdiction over all civil cases, while the Court of Criminal Appeals exercises discretionary review over criminal cases. This means the court may choose whether or not to review a case.
The right to vote is protected by the by the Equal Protection Clause and the Due Process Clause. U.S. CONST. amend. X IV, § 1, cl. 3-4. Because “the right to vote is personal,” Reynolds, 377 U.S. at 561-62 (alter-ations omitted), “[e]very voter in a federal … election, whether he votes for a candidate with little chance of winning or for one with little chance of losing, has a right under the Constitution to have his vote fairly counted.” Anderson v. United States, 417 U.S. 211, 227 (1974); Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 208 (1962). Invalid or fraudulent votes debase or dilute the weight of each validly cast vote. Bush II, 531 U.S. at 105. The unequal treatment of votes within a state, and unequal standards for processing votes raise equal protection concerns. Id. Though Bush II did not involve an action between States, the concern that illegal votes can cancel out lawful votes does not stop at a State’s boundary in the context of a Presidential election.
Plaintiff State challenges Defendant States’ administration of the 2020 election under the Electors Clause of Article II, Section 1, Clause 2, and the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
None of the looming election deadlines are constitutional, and they all are within this Court’s power to enjoin. Indeed, if this Court vacated a State’s appointment of presidential electors, those electors could not vote on December 14, 2020; if the Court vacated their vote after the fact, the House of Representatives could not count those votes on January 6, 2021. Moreover, any remedial action can be complete well before January 6, 2020. Indeed, even the swearing in of the next President on January 20, 2021, will not moot this case because review could outlast even the selection of the next President under “the ‘capable of repetition, yet evading review’ doctrine,” which applies “in the context of election cases … when there are ‘as applied’ challenges as well as in the more typical case involving only facial attacks.” FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc., 551 U.S. 449, 463 (2007) (internal quotations omitted); accord Norman v. Reed,502 U.S. 279, 287-88 (1992). Mootness is not, and will not become, an issue here.
Like any other action, an original action must meet the Article III criteria for a case or controversy: “it must appear that the complaining State has suffered a wrong through the action of the other State, furnishing ground for judicial redress, or is asserting a right against the other State which is susceptible of judicial enforcement according to the accepted principles of the common law or equity systems of jurisprudence.” Maryland v. Louisiana, 451 U.S. 725, 735-36 (1981) (internal quotations omitted). Plaintiff State has standing under those rules.3 With voting, “‘the right of suffrage can be denied by a debasement or dilution of the weight of a citizen’s vote just as effectively as by wholly prohibiting the free exercise of the franchise.’” Bush II, 531 U.S. at 105 (quoting Reynolds,377 U.S. at 555). In presidential elections, “the impact of the votes cast in each State is affected by the votes cast for the various candidates in other States.” Anderson v. Celebrezze, 460 U.S. 780, 795 (1983). Thus, votes in Defendant States affect the votes in Plaintiff State, as set forth in more detail below.
The citizens of Plaintiff State have the right to demand that all other States abide by the constitutionally set rules in appointing presidential electors to the electoral college. “No right is more precious in a free country than that of having a voice in the election of those who make the laws under which, as good citizens, we must live. Other rights, even the most basic, are illusory if the right to vote is undermined.” Wesberry, 376 U.S. at 10; Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356, 370 (1886) (“the political franchise of voting” is “a fundamental political right, because preservative of all rights”). “Every voter in a federal … election, whether he votes for a candidate with little chance of winning or for one with little chance of losing, has a right under the Constitution to have his vote fairly counted.” Anderson v. United States, 417 U.S. at 227; Baker, 369 U.S. at 208. Put differently, “a citizen has a constitutionally protected right to participate in elections on an equal basis with other citizens in the jurisdiction,” Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U.S. 330, 336 (1972), and—unlike the residency durations required in Dunn—the “jurisdiction” here is the entire United States. In short, the rights at issue are congeable under Article III.
Non-legislative officials in Defendant States either directly caused the challenged violations of the Electors Clause or, in the case of Georgia, acquiesced to them in settling a federal lawsuit. The Defendants thus caused the Plaintiff’s injuries.
This Court has authority to redress Plaintiff State’s injuries, and the requested relief will do so. First, while Defendant States are responsible for their elections , this Court has authority to enjoin reliance on unconstitutional elections: When the state legislature vests the right to vote for President in its people, the right to vote as the legislature has prescribed is fundamental; and one source of its funda-mental nature lies in the equal weight accorded to each vote and the equal dignity owed to each voter.
The right to vote is protected by the by the Equal Protection Clause and the Due Process Clause. U.S. CONST. amend. X IV, § 1, cl. 3-4. Because “the right to vote is personal,” Reynolds, 377 U.S. at 561-62 (alter-ations omitted), “[e]very voter in a federal … election, whether he votes for a candidate with little chance of winning or for one with little chance of losing, has a right under the Constitution to have his vote fairly counted.” Anderson v. United States, 417 U.S. 211, 227 (1974); Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 208 (1962). Invalid or fraudulent votes debase or dilute the weight of each validly cast vote. Bush II, 531 U.S. at 105. The unequal treatment of votes within a state, and unequal standards for processing votes raise equal protection concerns. Id. Though Bush II did not involve an action between States, the concern that illegal votes can cancel out lawful votes does not stop at a State’s boundary in the context of a Presidential election.
According to the Pew Research Center, in the 2020 general election, a record number of votes— about 65 million —were cast via mail compared to 33.5 million mail-in ballots cast in the 2016 general election—an increase of more than 94 percent. 35.
Plaintiff State challenges Defendant States’ administration of the 2020 election under the Electors Clause of Article II, Section 1, Clause 2, and the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Plaintiff is the State of Texas, which is a sovereign State of the United States. 23. Defendants are the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the States of Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin, which are sovereign States of the United States. LEGAL BACKGROUND .
This Court has authority to redress Plaintiff State’s injuries, and the requested relief will do so. First, while Defendant States are responsible for their elections , this Court has authority to enjoin reliance on unconstitutional elections: When the state legislature vests the right to vote for President in its people, the right to vote as the legislature has prescribed is fundamental; and one source of its funda-mental nature lies in the equal weight accorded to each vote and the equal dignity owed to each voter.
Without Defendant States’ combined 72 electoral votes, President Trump presumably has 232 electoral votes, and former Vice President Biden presumably has 234. Thus, Defendant States’ electors will determine the outcome of the election. Alternatively, if Defendant States are unable to certify 37 or more electors, neither candidate will have a majority in the Electoral College, in which case the election would devolve to the U.S. House of Representatives under the Twelfth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
None of the looming election deadlines are constitutional, and they all are within this Court’s power to enjoin. Indeed, if this Court vacated a State’s appointment or certification of presidential electors, those Electors could not vote on December 14, 2020; if the Court vacated their vote after the fact, the House of Representatives could not count those votes on January 6, 2021. There would be ample time for the Defendant States’ legislatures to appoint new presidential electors in a manner consistent with the Constitution. Any remedial action can be complete well before January 6, 2020. Indeed, even the swearing in of the next President on January 20, 2021, will not moot this case because review could outlast even the selection of the next President under “the ‘capable of repetition, yet evading review’ doctrine,” which applies “in the context of election cases … when there are ‘as applied’ challenges as well as in the more typical case involving only facial attacks.” FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc., 551 U.S. 449, 463 (2007) (internal quotations omitted); accord Norman v. Reed, 502 U.S. 279, 287-88 (1992). Mootness is not, and will not become, an issue here.
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The Supreme Court's Courtroom is located on the First Floor. The Clerk's Office is also located on the First Floor, Room No. 104. Parking is available in the State Visitor Parking Garage at 1201 San Jacinto, across the street from the Texas State Library and Archives. The Supreme Court normally holds oral arguments once a month on three consecutive ...