U.S. Court of Appeals

The Supreme Court Will Decide if North Texas Can Take Oklahoma's Water

With North Texas' population exploding and near-perennial drought seeming more and more like a certainty rather than a fluke, state water planners have been scrambling to secure new supplies, going further and further afield in search of waterways that haven't been tapped out. Several years ago, th ... More >>

Federal Judge Won't Toss Insider Trading Case Against Mavs Owner Mark Cuban

The now-five-year old insider-trading beef against mercurial Dallas Mavs owner Mark Cuban isn't going away anytime soon. Chief Judge Sidney Fitzwater rejected Tuesday a motion to dismiss the federal case against him, which alleges Cuban dumped his stock in an Internet search engine after getting tip ... More >>

Douglas Feldman, Sentenced To Die for Plano Road-Rage Murders, Would Like Some LSD

As the story goes, Douglas Feldman was out in Plano for a night ride on his Harley in 1998 when a big rig piloted by Robert Everett blew past him and cut into his lane, missing him by inches. Feldman pulled his 9mm and put a few holes into the back of the trailer. Then he gunned the bike up alongsid ... More >>

EPA Wants to Tangle With Texas Again Over Air Pollution Rules

EPA isn't ready to give up the fight over a rule aimed at curbing air pollution wafting across state lines. The agency filed a petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Friday morning, asking for a re-hearing before the full court. This comes more than a month after, a three-jud ... More >>

Irving-based ExxonMobil's Allegedly Ageist Pilot Retirement Policy Survives Federal Challenge

A six-year court battle waged by the feds against an ExxonMobil policy mandating the retirement of all corporate pilots at the age of 60 was dealt its second defeat in a Dallas federal court. The challenge, filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, characterized the policy as ageist and ... More >>

Federal Appeals Court Upholds Texas Challenge to EPA Power Plant Pollution Rule

A split three-judge panel of a federal appeals court rejected an EPA rule that would curb the drift of harmful power plant pollutants across state lines. The agency, the majority ruled, had overstepped its authority under the Clean Air Act. The legal challenge was mounted by a number of states and ... More >>

Farmers Branch Gets A Rehearing Before Appeals Court on Immigration Law

A controversial Farmers Branch immigration ordinance will get a second chance in court after a sound rejection back in March, and the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on Arizona's controversial immigration bill will play a determining role. Farmers Branch has three times passed a "housing" ordinance whi ... More >>

Now Texas Wants its Women's Health Program to Ban Doctors from Talking about Abortion

As Governor Rick Perry vows not to take any of that filthy federal money to expand Medicaid in Texas, state lawmakers may also have to find another $39 million next year to keep the Medicaid Women's Health Program alive. These days, the WHP has been going through some prolonged death throes. Texa ... More >>

Farmers Branch Has Spent Five Years and Millions of Dollars Trying to Keep Out Mexicans. Is It Time for a Truce?

A Less-Than-Crushing Blow for the EPA

Last week, in response to a post Brantley Hargrove wrote about power giant Energy Future Holdings' slow death waltz with potential bankruptcy, a commenter gently smacked him for ignoring some Major News related to power plants, smokestacks, etc. "And in other [news] this kid refuses to cover. The ... More >>

Pipe Bomb Found in Mesquite Man's Home During Warrantless Search Inadmissible

Back in 2009, Michael Scott Page of Mesquite was awaiting trial on an aggravated assault charge. He was reportedly depressed, anxious and eager to get it all over with, but delay after delay pushed his trial back. He allegedly told a longtime friend of his that he felt like "blowing things up" -- pe ... More >>

Cabbies' Suit Against Dallas and It's Love Field Line-Cutting Rule Tossed Out of Court

Sure, it goes against everything we learned in elementary school -- cut in line and suffer ridicule and a knuckle to the shoulder -- but it turns out the city of Dallas has every right to allow compressed natural gas-powered taxis to queue-jump at Love Field to improve air quality, U.S. District Jud ... More >>

American Cancer Society Gets To Keep Donations to Cattle Baron's Ball From Oil and Gas Fraudsters

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a federal district court's order forcing the American Cancer Society to return some $240,000 donated by Irving-based Giant Operating, an oil and gas company the Security and Exchange Commission says defrauded investors of more than $13 million. The ... More >>

Feds: Voter ID Law "Legally Unenforceable," Can't Rule Out "Discriminatory Purpose"

State legislation requiring voters to present state-issued identification such as a driver's license, a concealed-carry permit, or a U.S. passport or military ID was rejected Monday morning by the U.S. Department of Justice. "Because we conclude that the state has failed to meet its burden of dem ... More >>

Texas' Biggest Power Supplier Wants to Blame the EPA for Future Blackouts

Appeals Court Won't Rehear Attempt Trying to Overturn Texas's New Sonogram Law

In news that should make Rick Perry tingly all over, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order today denying the Center For Reproductive Rights' request for a new hearing in their suit against Texas's new sonogram law. The CRR had previously requested that the court hear the case en banc ... More >>

Ghost of "War on Christmas" Past Continues to Haunt Plano ISD as Judge Lets Case Live On

​This case has rattled through the halls of federal and appeals courts for eight years now -- the Ghost of War on Christmas Past, a moaning hydra who's been sliced, diced and now winnowed down to one remaining question on which a magistrate says three Plano families may proceed: In preventing ... More >>

Center For Reproductive Rights Wants All Fifth Circuit Judges To Hear Sonogram Law Case

Rick Perry, signing the sonogram legislation​The saga of Texas's brand-new, Rick-Perry approved sonogram law continues. First, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a preliminary injunction issued by Judge Sam Sparks and allowed the law to go into effect. (That law, just to refresh, ... More >>

Texas's New Sonogram Law Is Going Into Effect Immediately. As In: Right Now.

Just four days after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Rick Perry's favorite law -- the one requiring women to get a sonogram, listen to a fetal heartbeat and hear a verbal description from a doctor of the sonogram image before they can get an abortion -- is street legal, the court issue ... More >>

Judge OKs Texas's Sonogram Law, Making Governor Rick Perry Very, Very Happy

Texas's dandy new "sonogram law" -- which requires abortion-seeking women to look at a sonogram, hear a description of it from her doctor and listen to a fetal heartbeat -- is legal, a federal court ruled today. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a temporary injunction, issued by Judge ... More >>

U.S. Supreme Court Rules Dallas County's Appeal in Fight Over Voting Machines is "Moot"

​This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a very confusing ruling in the case involving Dallas County's voting machines -- a case, you'll recall, that stemmed from Linda Harper-Brown's 19-vote victory over Democrat Bob Romano in 1998. Long story short: The Texas Democratic Party (represent ... More >>

Fifth Circuit Judges Spend 100 Pages Debating Plano "Candy Cane" Case, First Amendment

​When last we checked in on the nearly 8-year-old (!) case involving those Plano ISD students (and their parents, more to the point) suing the district over those "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" pencils and candy canes they weren't allowed to distribute during winter-break parties, one of the ... More >>

Still Arguing Plano ISD's "Candy Cane Case," This Time in Front of the Whole Fifth Circuit

Doug Morgan, left, and son Jonathan, whose Jesus pencils lead to a lawsuit that's 8 years old and only getting older​Out of the blue today I got a call from somebody at the Liberty Institute, who said she was returning my message. "I guess you're calling about 'The Candy Cane Case,'" she said. Um ... More >>

Six Shows Worth Their Salt in Dallas Tonight

Another night, another solid selection of shows in our fair region.

Players 2, Owners 0: But the NFL Still Isn't Back to Normal Business Hours

​Was talking to Cowboys' long-snapper L.P. Ladouceur yesterday when the news broke: "Judge Susan Nelson rules for players. Lockout to be lifted."Him: "What does that mean? We're back to work tomorrow?"Me: "Um, I'm not sure." At the time -- as usual -- I felt like an uninformed dork, clueless t ... More >>

Still Angry CNG Cabs Get to Cut Line at Love Field, Indie Taxis Staying Home New Year's Eve

Patrick MichelsFrom the cabbie protest at Dallas City Hall three months ago​Back in March we were alerted to a cabbie strike out at Love Field Airport, when the members of the Association of Taxicab Operators protested the city's eventual vote that allowed compressed natural gas-powered taxis to h ... More >>

U.S. Court of Appeals Says It's OK to Pledge Allegiance to "One State Under God"

​For the last three years, David and Shannon Croft have tried to excise the phrase "one state under God" from the Texas Pledge of Allegiance, four words added in the summer of '07. The couple had kids at Rosemeade Elementary School in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, and the self-proclaimed "hum ... More >>

A Year After Dallas Federal Judge Booted SEC's Case Against Mark Cuban, It Lives Again

Sam Merten​In July 2009, U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater dismissed the Securities and Exchange Commission's complaint that Mark Cuban violated insider-trading laws when, in 2004, he sold off $750,000 in Mamma.com stock. Cuban, of course, poo-poohed the claim when originally brought by the SEC ... More >>

Stormy Weather: Court of Appeals Resurrects Dallas PD Officer's Claims of Retaliation

​This is how the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit summarizes the events that led to Dallas Police Officer Stormy Magiera filing a discrimination lawsuit against the city in early 2006, six years after she was hired:On May 21, 2005, Magiera responded to the sound of a gunshot being fired ... More >>

This Morning, Questions About Whether Bud Selig's Balls Will Strike Out Rangers Sale

​What was it Tom Hicks said Tom Hicks said Saturday night? Ah, yes: The sale of Your Texas Rangers -- to Chuck Greenberg, Jim Crane, Mark Cuban or The Still-Living Ghost of Brad Corbett -- is a "complex proceeding." (What's wrong with the family-friendly "clusterfudge"?) But those needing some sum ... More >>

Just Because Supreme Court Passes on PISD-Off Parents' Appeal Doesn't Mean This is Over

​At this late date is there really any reason to go back and retell the tale of the Ghost of War on Christmas Past? You remember this, right? Kids at Plano Independent School District elementary schools pass out "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" pencils and Christian-flavored candy canes amongs ... More >>

Supremes Decline to Give Waxahachie High Student's T-Shirt Its Day in Court

This isn't the John Edwards tee in question, which is too bad.​Maybe you remember: Back in September '07, Waxahachie High School student Pete Palmer was called into the principal's office and that, Look, you're all-black look is way too goth for the school's dress code. At which point his dad, Pau ... More >>

Remember the War on Christmas in Plano? The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Does.

​Speaking of old local cases involving schoolchildren sitting in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ...On Tuesday, the court handed down an opinion in that years-old case involving a Plano Independent School District third-grader and other PISD-off kiddies told by district officials t ... More >>

Yet Again, AG Abbott Defends the Constitutionality of the Texas Pledge

​Remember when David and Shannon Croft sued the state because they didn't want their kids, then enrolled in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch school district, to recite the Texas Pledge of Allegiance? Yup. Totally forgot about that one. That was two long years ago -- back when the Crofts also sued the ... More >>

Inside a Santeria Feast Day

Kimberly ThorpeA suburban Dallas Santeria feast ceremony​Santeria is a religion practiced by one to five million people in the United States; still, because of its clandestine nature, estimates of practitioners of the Afro-Cuban religion vary widely. Some Euless residents were shocked to learn tha ... More >>

Buzzkill: Senate Keeps Burleson Sex-Toy Crusader Off Pardons and Paroles Board

Guess this will be the last time we run this photo of Shanda Perkins.Scott Henson at Grits for Breakfast sent Unfair Park a note to point out this "amazing" development from yesterday: Burleson's Shanda Perkins bid to become a member of the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles was killed dead in the ... More >>

First, She Wanted Dildos Out of Burleson. Now, She's Appointed to the State Parole Board!

Shanda PerkinsThe great Scott Henson at Grits for Breakfast sends word today that our "Sex Toy Story" from April 2004 now has a "bizarre coda." Long story short: Few years back, Shanda Perkins led the charge against Joanne Webb's "passion parties" in Burleson, where Webb would sell vibrators and oth ... More >>

As Attorneys Argue Over Neches River's Future, Some Suggested Reading About Its Storied Past

In our editorial meeting this morning, Schutze offered a book report concerning his holiday reading: Paddling the Wild Neches by Richard Donovan, which was published by the Texas A&M University Press in May 2006. Says Jim about the book documenting one man's canoe trip through East Texas, it's e ... More >>

Some Appealing Morning Items

See what I did there? "Appealing"? As in, the City of Dallas, still trying to get its hands on the Neches River water, is sending attorneys to New Orleans this week -- luckies. Specifically, the barristers will be setting up shop in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (there ya go), where, at 9 a.m, ... More >>

Ask a Mexican

A ban on Spanish at work? Probably legal. Certainly dumb.

We Aren't Marshall: Volkswagen Wants Case Moved to Dallas

In Valentine's Day News, Sex Toys Now Perfectly Legal in Texas!

What First Amendment?

Go to prison, lose your rights

Don't Call It a Comeback

Funny Valentino's

It's Chinese food with a wink at this Oak Cliff restaurant

Touchy Subject

Federal judge strikes down Dallas' two-rubs-and-you're-out rule for strip clubs

Houses Divided

A fight over public housing pits working-class East Dallas homeowners against their poorer neighbors in a battle tainted by claims of racism

Black like him

Despite the Starr report's dirty details, Paula Jones' case against the nation's "first black president" hinges as much on race as on sex

Dissed robes

Federal Judge John H. McBryde gets more than a slap on the wrist from his outraged brethren

Temper, temper

Judge John Henry McBryde ruled his court like a minor despot, angering lawyers and fellow judges. Now they're lined up to depose him, and the Constitution be damned.