3 People Died of Thirst in a Texas County Jail in Under 2 Years
All three inmates were mentally ill and became dehydrated despite ready access to water.
Texas
Tacos, Sandwiches, and Zoning
Plus: Austin shrinks its minimum lot sizes, Florida builds on past zoning reforms, and Arizona passes ADU and missing middle bills.
Daniel Perry's Pardon Makes a Mockery of Self-Defense
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott takes a tactic from the progressive prosecutors he says he opposes.
Can This Woman Sue the Rogue Prosecutor Who Allegedly Helped Upend Her Life?
Prosecutor Ralph Petty was also employed as a law clerk—by the same judges he argued before.
Zoning Regulations Empower Control Freaks—and Bigots
The Institute for Justice has launched a project to reform land use regulation.
Supreme Court Won't Stop Texas Porn Law From Taking Effect
"We will continue to fight for the right to access the internet without intrusive government oversight," says the group challenging the law.
Journalism Is Not a Crime, Even When It Offends the Government
Julian Assange and Priscilla Villarreal were both arrested for publishing information that government officials wanted to conceal.
Ohio Pastor Criminally Charged for Letting People Sleep In Church. Again.
Plus: California's landmark law ending single-family-only zoning is struck down, Austin, Texas, moves forward with minimum lot size reform, and the pro-natalist case for pedestrian infrastructure.
Federal Court Again Rejects Texas' Claim that Illegal Migration Qualifies as "Invasion"
The ruling builds on the same court's two prior decisions to the same effect.
A Texas Reporter Busted for Asking Questions Asks SCOTUS To Reject the Criminalization of Journalism
Priscilla Villarreal is appealing a 5th Circuit decision that dismissed her First Amendment lawsuit against Laredo police and prosecutors.
Texas Public Colleges Crack Down on Peaceful Anti-Israel Protests
In March, Gov. Greg Abbott signed an executive order demanding that colleges crack down on antisemitic speech.
These States Want You To Show ID To Watch Porn Online
At least eight states have already enacted age-verification laws, and several more are considering bills.
Laws Requiring Social Media Firms to Host Content they Prefer to Exclude Violate the Takings Clause
Ethan Blevins of the Pacific Legal Foundation explains why. I myself have made similar arguments.
Adult Entertainment Group Asks Supreme Court To Block Texas Age-Verification Law
"Profound irreparable harm flows from the Act's chilling of adults' access to protected sexual expression," the filing reads.
Video of Federalist Society Executive Branch Review Conference Panel on "Law and Order on the Border"
I participated, along with former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, and former DHS official Sohan Dasgupta.
Department of Transportation Lacks the Authority to Require States to Set Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets for Highways
A district court concludes that the Department of Transportation lacks the authority to force states to try and reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with highway use.
Meet 'Literally Anybody Else,' the Presidential Candidate That 2024 Demands
The 35-year-old Texan formerly known as Dustin Ebey voted for Gary Johnson in 2016 and says the national debt is America's biggest problem.
Why Palantir Cofounder Joe Lonsdale Left California for Texas
The entrepreneur, who founded the Cicero Institute to fix government and the University of Austin to fix higher education, wanted space to flourish.
Texas Takes Intellectually Disabled Inmate Off Death Row
Randall Mays, who has an IQ of 63, was resentenced to life without parole.
Christopher Yoo on Regulating Social Media Platforms as "Common Carriers"
The Univ. of Pennsylvania legal scholar makes the most thorough critique yet of this approach to justifying regulations that bar social media firms from engaging in most types of content moderation.
Judge Quashes Felony Murder Charges Against Former Houston Cop Whose Lies Led to a Deadly 2019 Drug Raid
Gerald Goines' lawyers argued that the indictment did not adequately specify the underlying felony of tampering with a government document.
Fifth Circuit Rules Against Texas SB 4 Immigration Law
In the process, the court also rejected Texas's argument that illegal migration and drug smuggling qualify as "invasion."
My New Lawfare Article on Why "Immigration is Not Invasion"
Texas is wrong to equate illegal migration and drug smuggling with invasion. If accepted by courts, the argument would set a dangerous precedent.
Amicus Brief in United States v. Abbott Explains Why Texas is Wrong to Equate Illegal Migration and Drug Smuggling With "Invasion"
The state's position is at odds with the text and original meaning of the Constitution and would set a dangerous precedent if accepted by federal courts.
Will the Supreme Court Let Sylvia Gonzalez Sue the Political Enemies Who Engineered Her Arrest?
"Mayors should not be allowed to launder animus through warrants," the former city council member's lawyer told the justices.
Texas SWAT Team Held Innocent Family at Gunpoint After Raiding the Wrong Home
The officers are avoiding accountability after getting qualified immunity.
The Dark Side of Housing Bipartisanship
Plus: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is fooled by TikTok housing falsehoods, Austin building boom cuts prices, and Sacramento does the socialist version of "homeless homesteading."
Texas Barred From Detaining Border-Crossers
Plus: Cuba's collapse, D.C.'s crime rate, Austin's housing market, and more...
Court Should Focus on Coercion in Murthy v. Missouri
The government is entitled to try to persuade social media to take down posts, but not to coerce them to do so.
Pornhub Pulls Out of Seventh State
The company leaves Texas over an “ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous” age-verification law.
UT Austin Brings Back the SAT After Scoreless Kids Underperform
The college is the latest in a spate of schools reinstating SAT and ACT test requirements.
FIRE Highlights the Blatant Hypocrisy of State Officials Who Decry Government Meddling With Social Media
Even as they attack the Biden administration's crusade against "misinformation," Missouri and Louisiana defend legal restrictions on content moderation.
Federal District Court Rules Red States Lack Standing to Challenge Legality of Immigration Parole Program for Migrants from Four Latin American Countries
The ruling allows the CNVH private sponsorship program - covering migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Haiti to continue. But it is likely to be appealed.
Historic Preservation Board Stops Family Removing KKK Supporter's Initial From Front of their House
Kristy Kay Money and Rolf Jacob Sraubhaar are now suing the city of San Marcos, Texas, saying they're being forced to keep a Klan-linked symbol on the front of their house is a physical taking.
Everything Is Getting Bigger in Texas
Plus: An interview with Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, Minnesota lawmakers try to save Minneapolis zoning reform from excess environmental review, and the White House's new housing supply action plan.
Supreme Court Tells Texas to Hold On
Plus: More reactions to the Supreme Court's other decision in the Trump ballot disqualification case, D.C.'s continued minimum wage confusion, California's primary elections, and more...
Federal Court Rejects Texas's Argument that Illegal Migration Qualifies as "Invasion" [Updated to include link to the decision]
The ruling has the most extensive discussion of the meaning of "invasion" in the Constitution ever included in a court decision.
Texas Sues Pornhub for Failing to Check IDs
A federal judge in an ongoing case called the porn age-check scheme unconstitutional. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton doesn't seem to care.
Supreme Court Looks Poised To Gut Restrictive Social Media Laws
The First Amendment restricts governments, not private platforms, and respects editorial rights.
Texas and Florida Say the First Amendment Must Be Sacrificed to Save It
Supreme Court arguments about two social media laws highlight a dangerous conflation of state and private action.
Most Justices Seem Skeptical of the Florida and Texas Social Media Laws
The Supreme Court seems inclined to recognize that content moderation is protected by the First Amendment.
Supreme Court Seems Likely to Strike Down Florida and Texas Social Media Laws
The laws violate the First Amendment because they require social media sites to abjure most content moderation, and platform speech they disapprove of.
Texas and Florida Want the Supreme Court To Bless Their Unconstitutional Social Media Laws
Both states are trying to force tech companies to platform certain sorts of speech.
The "Migrant Crisis" is Caused by Flawed Work and Housing Policies, not Migrants
The difficulties some cities are experiencing arise because many migrants aren't allowed to work, and because of restrictions on construction of new housing.
The Biden Administration Is Bent on Setting an Alarming Precedent by Prosecuting Julian Assange
The WikiLeaks founder already has spent as much time in a London prison as DOJ lawyers say he is likely to serve if convicted in the U.S.
This Prosecutor Secretly Worked for the Judges Overseeing His Cases. Will His Victims Be Able To Sue?
Ralph Petty likely violated the Constitution. In a rare move, a federal court signaled this week that lawsuits against him may not be dead on arrival.
