texas supreme court

August 26, 2020 - Southern states are holding judicial elections this year that will shape the outcome of critical cases involving voting rights and criminal justice. The elections could also bring unprecedented diversity to courts in some states.

November 6, 2019 - In Texas, which has long debated changes to its system of partisan judicial elections, Republican leaders began pushing an appointment system just a few months after last year's Democratic sweep in Houston's judicial elections. One proposed bill would put an end to elected judges in urban counties.

October 11, 2018 - The same secret-money group that pushed the U.S Senate to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh is dominating spending in judicial elections in Arkansas and elsewhere in the South. In some states, justices are looking to be re-elected with the help of campaign cash from corporations and law firms that have business before the courts.

March 16, 2018 - Nursing homes and other corporations that do not like being sued are pushing state constitutional amendments to limit damages juries can award — the latest move in a long corporate-funded campaign to limit access to civil justice. 

February 22, 2018 - As civil rights groups challenge racially discriminatory judicial elections under the Voting Rights Act, North Carolina legislators are moving forward with a judicial gerrymandering plan that could lead to less racial diversity on the bench.

July 14, 2017 - Eight justices who had previously dismissed a challenge to same-sex spousal benefits recently changed their minds. Some have argued they were riding a change in political tides, but there may be more to the story than a nationwide conservative swing.