U.S. Court of Appeals

Don't Call It a Comeback

Wagman the Dog: Or, Enron Did It!

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

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

Off the Killing Floor

Dallas-based Supreme Beef wins a major round in its court battle with the USDA

Smut patrol

Cincinnati stamps out sin--and civil rights, besides

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 >>

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 >>

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.

Welcome to the neighborhood

North Dallas residents find that having a housing project for a neighbor isn't so bad

Dissed robes

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

The Lie Detector

From the mayor of Atlanta, who was unjustly accused of graft, to a California man wrongly sentenced to life in a Texas prison, polygraph examiner Eric Holden found the truth that helped set them free

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

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 >>

Letters

It's the money; Birth pains

Letters

Deathly Silence; It Is Rocket Science; Plain Ignorant

Buzz Reviews the News of 2008: Yes. It Was All Bad.

Sex clubs in the 'burbs, teacher layoffs in the district, black holes in the commissioners court—Buzz makes perfect sense of 2008

Ask a Mexican

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

What First Amendment?

Go to prison, lose your rights

The Big Squeeze

Thinking about taking out a payday loan? Think again, sucker.

Life After Death

Andre Lewis was eight hours from being executed, until the courts realized they had made a big mistake

Funny Valentino's

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

2002 Revealed

An aging Buzz finds little to celebrate in the year gone by. What did you expect?

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

Deep impact

A West Texas divorce case could soon change the nation's gun laws

Impossible dreamer

Fearless reformer or legal terrorist? Bobby Wightman-Cervantes makes a run for the Senate. The Texas Bar says he should have his head examined.

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 >>

In Deep Doo-Doo: A Texas Prisoner's "Vulgar Pen" Is Not Protected From Penalty

Four years ago, a Texas Department of Criminal Justice guest by the name of George Morgan filed for a habeas corpus proceeding, which the state asked the court to dismiss. Morgan didn't take kindly to that, and in response to the state of Texas's request, Morgan sent to Assistant Attorney General Su ... 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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

Six Shows Worth Their Salt in Dallas Tonight

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

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 >>

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

Via.​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 ... 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 >>

Competence on Trial: The Strange Odyssey of Serial Dallas Lawsuit Filer Lester Ruston

Via Gawker​Every decent-sized courthouse in the country has its own serial pain in the ass, the guy who thinks nothing of suing the kids who threw a ball over his fence or the cat who pooped in his yard. But there's a special subset of filing addicts: the inmates who while away their time in t ... More >>

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

Zazzle​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, is ... More >>

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

Zazzle​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, th ... 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 >>

More Stormy Weather for Dallas Police Sergeant Stormy Magiera, Who's Been Arrested

Collin County​The woman you see at right, in a mugshot posted to the Collin County website, is Sergeant Stormy Magiera, a Dallas Police officer since September 2000. According to an email dispatched by the DPD this morning, Magiera was detained by Garland Police and arrested by Murphy PD on a warr ... 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 >>