This week, the Texas Supreme Court has a scheduled private conference. Normally, the fruits of that conference would appear in a regular Friday order list. Because this week ends with a holiday, the Court’s next regular orders will be issued next Friday.

This does not necessarily mean a quiet week. Last year, the Court still issued a briefing requests on Good Friday, even though the regular order list was omitted.

Articles from the Past Week

• It looks like the Court is done with oral arguments for the year, wrapping up a little early to focus on getting opinions out: “Oral Argument Update”

• Justice O’Neill received a national award, as noted in this roundup post.

• And with last Friday’s orders, the Texas Supreme Court issued opinions in four cases.

The Texas Supreme Court has a one-day argument sitting tomorrow, Tuesday the 31st of March. On the docket are:

• American General Finance, Inc. v. Allen, No. 08-0110 (DB).

• Myrad Properties, Inc. v. LaSalle Bank National Association, et al., No. 08-0444 (DB).

• In re Weekley Homes, L.P., No. 08-0836 (DB).

Articles from the Past Week

• The Court has issued another formal CVSG, this one in a case that has been submitted for about five months.

• On Friday, the Court quietly issued 15 more requests for full briefing. Get ’em while they’re hot.

• My summary of last week’s hearing on SB780, the bill about opening up the Texas Supreme Court’s internal deliberation process.

• And last Friday’s order list, which was accompanied by merits opinions in six cases and orders selecting six more for oral argument later this Spring.

The Texas Supreme Court has three days of argument scheduled this week.

The first is an “away game” at South Texas College of Law on Tuesday. The Court will be hearing argument in:

• Whirlpool Corp. v. Camacho, No. 08-0175, out of Corpus Christi-Edinburg (Osler preview) (DB)

• Yamada v. Friend, No. 08-0262, out of Fort Worth (Osler preview) (DB)

On Wednesday, the Court will be back in Austin to hear arguments in:

• Timpte Industries, Inc. v. Gish, No. 08-0043, out of Amarillo (DB)

• State Office of Risk Management v. Lawton, No. 08-0363, out of Waco (DB)

• Allison v. Commission for Lawyer Discipline, No. 08-0705 (DB)

And on Thursday the Court will hear arguments in:

• Waffle House, Inc. v. Williams, No. 07-0205, out of Fort Worth (DB)

• Intercontinental Group Partnership v. KB Home Lone Star, L.P., No. 07-0815, out of Corpus Christi-Edinburg (DB)

• MBM Financial Corp. v. The Woodlands Operating Co., No. 08-0390, out of Beaumont (DB)

Articles from the Past Week

In last Friday’s order list, the Texas Supreme Court handed down one decision. The Court did not grant any new petitions for review.

It did, however, request full briefing in a case about recusal of probate judges.

The Texas Supreme Court’s calendar this week is open, with no events scheduled other than Friday’s regular order list.

Today is Texas Independence Day. (( It marks the adoption of the Texas Declaration of Independence. )) If you’re craving a big collection of Texas-related law links, you should see Blawgletter’s version of Blawg Review, freshly published today.

Tomorrow, the United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co., the judicial recusal case challenging the coal company’s 3-to-2 victory in the West Virginia Supreme Court on grounds that one of the justices was so biased as to violate the federal due process clause. (No word on whether the other two judges in that majority wish they could change their mind about now.)

Weekend Update

On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court mailed out requests for full briefing in half a dozen new cases. As always, those cases will be listed in the blog’s sidebar for about a month.

Articles from the Past Week

• I wrote about a bill pending in the Texas Legislature to open up the Court’s internal votes and, later in the week, about the Court’s current practice of permitting Justices to note their dissent from the Court’s handling of a particular petition.

• Last week, the State Bar of Texas continued its advance into the Web 2.0 era by launching its own blog.

• In Friday’s order list, the Texas Supreme Court decided six cases with opinions and granted three new petitions, setting two of them for argument.

After a quiet order list last week, the Texas Supreme Court is meeting for a private conference today and tomorrow. Any opinions finalized or new petitions granted should be reflected on this Friday’s order list.

This is the Court’s last scheduled conference until March 23rd. Based on the Court’s published calendar, this week’s order list would be the most likely time for the Court to fill out its March 31st oral argument calendar.

The Court is closed today for Presidents’ Day and no conferences are scheduled this week.

Weekend Update

On Friday of last week, the Court chose fourteen new cases to receive full briefing on the merits, queuing them up for possible decision later.

As always, a list of those recent briefing requests should appear in the blog’s sidebar for thirty days.

Articles from the Past Week

• The week began with this post about the state of the Texas Supreme Court’s docket: Why This Week’s Conference Matters.

• On Wednesday, the Chief Justices gave his state of the judiciary speech. The blog had this article (“The State of the Judiciary Is…”) and the later post More Reactions to the State of the Judiciary.

• Order List for February 13, 2009. The Court issued opinions in four cases and set nine cases for oral argument in March. Two of the cases decided were In re Gayle E. Coppock and Pine Oak Builders, Inc. v. Great American Lloyds Ins. Co.. The Coppock case was also written up in the Austin American-Statesman on Saturday, and the In re Labatt decision was mentioned on the blog Disputing.

• The week also included this short post about the Three Little Words that you don’t need to tell the Texas Supreme Court, even on Valentine’s Week.

The Court is scheduled to hold a two-day conference on Monday and Tuesday. Any petitions granted or cases resolved should be noted on this Friday’s regular order list.

Articles from the Past Week

• Order List for October 3, 2008. The Court denied oral argument time to the legislators who filed an amicus brief in the Entergy case being argued next week.

• Evidence Prof Weighs in on Reliance Steel. Should the Court have applied the “invited error” rule differently?

• Tracking Briefing Requests with DocketDB. As you’ll notice in the left-hand sidebar, the blog now tracks new briefing requests automatically, and you can subscribe in your own RSS reader.

The Court has some activities scheduled for the end of the week, but has not set any conferences or arguments this week. (( The calendar shows a Board of Directors Meeting for the State Bar on Thursday and Friday and a meeting of the Task Force for Emergency Preparedness on Friday afternoon. ))

The Texas Supreme Court’s next oral argument sitting begins on October 14th.

Articles from the Past Week

• “Typography for Lawyers”

• Order List for September 26, 2008 (part 2). This post has my summaries of last week’s merits opinions.

• Order List for September 26, 2008 (part 1). Last week’s new petition grants and other orders.

• Cases in the News 9-25-2008

• Barr Petition Denied

• Colorful Rehearing Motion in DeLay Associate Case