Articles tagged: Ken Paxton
Families of Sick Prisoners Plead for Compassionate Release as Coronavirus Spreads Behind Bars in Texas
Advocates for incarcerated people are urging Governor Abbott to release parole-eligible people who are elderly or have chronic illnesses.
Justin Phillips’ health started deteriorating soon after police arrested him on drug charges in 2016. He grew gravely ill while waiting for his court date at ...Read More
What’s in a Name?
New lawsuits by transgender people challenge bans on name changes for those convicted of crimes.
This article was originally published by The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Sign up for their newsle...Read More
Ken Paxton Says New Anti-Abortion Law Bars State Employees from Donating to Planned Parenthood
Advocates warn that the attorney general’s new opinion indicates how far efforts to implement a vague new law could go.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says state employees can no longer make payroll donations to Planned Parenthood under a new state law that bans abortion provi...Read More
Texas (Kinda, Sorta) Accidentally Decriminalized Weed. Now What?
How harshly you’re punished for pot possession depends on where you’re caught, even more so now that a new law legalizing hemp has sowed confusion.
Texas lawmakers like to declare themselves leaders on criminal justice reform, but this session they mostly did nothing about it. During the 86th Texas Legislat...Read More
Ken Paxton Wants ‘Ultimate Home Field Advantage’ in Felony Case
Paxton, it seems, would rather watch his case implode from the comfort of his own backyard.
A couple of years ago, the private lawyers hired to prosecute the three felony charges against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton came up with a nickname for the...Read More
Will Texas Keep Fighting Foster Care Reform?
More than three years ago, a federal judge handed down court orders to reform Texas’ foster care system. And for more than three years, state lawyers have fought against those orders.
It’s been more than three years since a federal judge ruled that Texas dumps some of the state’s most vulnerable children into a foster care system “where...Read More
The System Works for Attorney General Ken Paxton. Again.
A court decision this week could be the coup de grâce that finally ends the attorney general’s four-year-old felony case.
The criminal justice system humiliates, maims and destroys some people. For a sick grandmother dependent on Social Security, traffic tickets can result in repea...Read More
Death Penalty Reform Bill Gets Watered Down to ‘Nothing’ Before Passing Senate
After passing the House, HB 1139, meant to reform how Texas decides whether a defendant is too intellectually disabled to execute, was significantly softened in Senate committee.
A House bill meant to reform Texas’ death penalty procedures for intellectually disabled defendants was amended in the Senate to the point that criminal justi...Read More
Texas Has the Highest Uninsured Rate in the Country. Lawmakers Haven’t Addressed it This Session.
Health care advocates were optimistic that the Legislature would do something this year to address high, and rising, uninsured rates; high rates of maternal mortality; and the rural hospital closure crisis.
Texas has the highest overall uninsured rate in the country, the highest rate of uninsured kids and the highest rate of uninsured women of childbearing age. Yet...Read More