Louisiana levee board loses appeal to oil and gas in coastal wetlantds lawsuit

Vegetation takes root on land created in the Lake Hermitage restoration project on the west bank of Plaquemines Parish on Tuesday, August 26, 2014. upheld a federal judge's 2015 decision in favor of energy companies that argued the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East lacked legal standing to bring damage claims.

Trump DOJ Drops Obama Administration’s Transgender Bathroom Fight

Last week, the Justice Department withdrew the pending legal challenge that had sought to reverse the federal court decision blocking the implementation of the Obama administration's transgender bathroom policy for public schools. By announcing it would drop the government's appeal , the Trump administration signaled that it will take a more conservative approach to the issue, allowing local school districts to develop their own bathroom and locker room policies without federal guidance.

US withdraws stay request in transgender bathroom case

President Donald Trump's administration is stepping back from a request made by the Obama administration in an ongoing lawsuit over bathroom rights for transgender students in public schools. In a filing Friday with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the federal government asked to withdraw a motion filed last year that asked a judge to scale back a temporary injunction blocking Obama administration guidance on the issue.

Justice Department no longer fighting injunction on transgender school guidance.

The Justice Department on Friday signaled it stopped fighting to overturn a national injunction blocking the federal government from giving guidance to schools and transgender students, another sign President Donald Trump's administration is taking a different approach than former President Barack Obama's. A hearing was set for next Tuesday in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in which the Justice Department was fighting Texas and 11 other states, which had filed a lawsuit to prevent the Education Department from being able to give that guidance to transgender students that they are allowed to use restrooms that match their gender identity.

Will the Courts Find Trump’s Travel Ban Unconstitutional?

President Trump can perhaps be forgiven for not understanding the quirks of federal District Court jurisdiction. Saturday he Tweeted, "Why aren't the lawyers looking at and using the Federal Court decision in Boston, which is at conflict with ridiculous lift ban decision?" The elementary reason is this: one judge - Judge Nathaniel Gorton of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts refused to enter an injunction.

Federal court allows appeal for killer of TCU professor

A federal appeals court is allowing attorneys for a 44-year-old convicted killer to move forward with an appeal that questions whether he's eligible for the death penalty for the 2004 suffocation of retired college professor abducted in Fort Worth. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled Edward Lee Busby may pursue arguments that he's mentally impaired, making him ineligible for execution, and that he's had deficient legal help at his trial and in earlier stages of his appeals.

In the Matter of: Stephen John Bandi; Charles Edward Bandi

In the Matter of: STEPHEN JOHN BANDI; CHARLES EDWARD BANDI, Debtors STEPHEN JOHN BANDI; CHARLES EDWARD BANDI, Appellants v. CHRISTOPHER BECNEL, Appellee After Stephen and Charles Bandi filed voluntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy petitions, Christopher Becnel sued the Bandis in bankruptcy court to prevent the Bandis from discharging a debt owed to Becnel.

Court declines Texas appeal

The Supreme Court declined Texas officials' appeal in the ongoing battle over the state's voter identification law Monday, meaning an earlier decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals - which found the law violates the Voting Rights Act - will stand. Chief Justice John Roberts, however, took the unusual step of offering an explanation for why the Supreme Court chose not to hear the appeal.

Supreme Court to Decide Class Action Waiver Issue

The Supreme Court issued an order today agreeing to hear three cases involving the National Labor Relations Board's holding that class and collective class action waivers violate Section 8 . According to the Board's first decision on the matter in D.R. Horton, an "individual who files a class or collective action regarding wages, hours or working conditions, whether in court or before an arbitrator, seeks to initiate or induce group action and is engaged in conduct protected by Section 7 central to the [NLRA's] purposes."

Condemned inmate tied to 4 Texas slayings loses court appeal

A federal appeals court has refused an appeal from a Texas death row inmate who confessed to four rape-slayings, another sexual attack where the victim survived and to molesting two children. Attorneys for 54-year-old Anthony Shore argued to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that lawyers at Shore's 2004 Harris County trial didn't properly investigate and present evidence of his brain damage and that executing Shore would be unconstitutional because he suffers brain damage.

Chris Suprun’s eventful year in voting

The self-described "voting addict" was an apparent casualty of the confusion amid legal wrangling over the state's 2011 voter ID law. "Pick a course and run with it," he urged U.S. District Court Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos, of Corpus Christi, in a letter dated Dec. 21. "I write this because after not being able to cast a ballot I was disheartened," the letter said.

Judge to retire after controversy over Trump remarks

A federal magistrate judge in San Antonio who told people at a citizenship swearing-in ceremony that they "need to go to another country" if they object to Donald Trump's presidency now plans to retire next year. The San Antonio Express-News reports that U.S. Magistrate Judge John Primomo disclosed his plans in a letter Tuesday to Western District federal judges and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Report: Texas has closed most polling places since court ruling

Five Texas counties rank among the top 10 nationwide for closing the greatest percentage of their polling places since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a portion of the Voting Rights Act in 2013, according to a new report released less than a week before Election Day. According to the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a civil rights advocacy group, since the high court found Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional - ruling that Texas and other states with history of racial discrimination no longer needed federal pre-clearance when changing election laws - Texas counties have closed at least 403 polling places.

Federal court rejects appeal from condemned Houston man

A federal appeals court has rejected an appeal from a Houston man on death row for the 2003 slaying of a 20-year-old friend whose car he stole. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has refused arguments from lawyers for 31-year-old Damon Matthews who contended attorneys failed to investigate and present evidence at his 2004 trial that Matthews may have suffered brain damage because of his mother's drug and alcohol use while she was pregnant.

Judge sides with Planned Parenthood over Mississippi abortion law

A federal judge on Thursday sided with women's health provider Planned Parenthood in a lawsuit aiming to block a Mississippi law that barred medical providers that perform abortions from participating in the state's Medicaid program. The decision by U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan III is the latest in a string of rulings striking down similar laws elsewhere in the country against the women's health provider.