These types of conflicts are not unusual.
Texas' executive officials regularly make decisions that are challenged in the federal courts. The top three involve federal courts, the last involves the Texas courts. Here's the latest:
1 - Department of Homeland Security v. Texas.
Whether the Supreme Court should block an order by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that generally bars federal Border Patrol agents from cutting or moving razor wire installed by Texas along a portion of the U.S.-Mexico border.
See also: U.S. Supreme Court says Texas can’t block federal agents from the border.
See also: In Eagle Pass, a tense border standoff between Texas and the federal government is reaching a crescendo.
2 - Texas Tribune: Facing pressure from judge, Texas reassigns workers to care for foster kids in unlicensed homes.
Texas child welfare officials are reassigning staff to focus on monitoring the unlicensed motels and rental homes that house some of the most vulnerable children in the foster-care system — a move officials said Monday is the latest attempt to comply with a years-old court order to keep those children safer.
3 - Texas Tribune: Appeals court blocks Texas from enforcing book rating law.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the Texas Education Agency on Wednesday from enforcing a state law requiring booksellers to rate the explicitness and relevance of sexual references in materials they sell to schools.
The appellate court, one of the most conservative in the nation, sided with booksellers who sued the state after claiming House Bill 900 violated their First Amendment rights. The court affirmed a lower court’s decision to prevent TEA Commissioner Mike Morath from enforcing the 2023 law.
Wednesday’s decision was somewhat surprising since the appellate court blocked the lower court’s ruling in November. Addressing the reversal, Judge Don Willett with the 5th Circuit wrote that a “different panel of this court” had granted the state’s appeal to block that ruling.
The plaintiffs — which include bookshops in Houston and Austin, the American Booksellers Association, the Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild — argue that it is logistically impossible and cost-prohibitive to comply with the law.
4 - Appeals court rules lawsuit seeking Jan. 6 emails from Texas governor, attorney general can move forward.
A lawsuit to force two Texas leaders to release years of their emails, including about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, can move forward thanks to a Wednesday appeals court decision.
The Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled that Attorney General Ken Paxton and Gov. Greg Abbott did not make the case for the lawsuit against them to be thrown out.
The decision was a major win for American Oversight, the Washington-DC based nonprofit that sued for access to the records after being rebuffed by the state. The group’s executive director called the decision “a tremendous victory for transparency.”
“American Oversight is seeking records related to matters of significant public interest and the appeals court was correct to reject this effort to evade accountability. We hope that Gov. Abbott and Attorney General Paxton will stop their delay and finally release these records to the public,” Heather Sawyer said in a statement.
