The Court’s calendar shows a private conference scheduled for Monday but no regular order list this week because the Court will be closed for the Fourth of July.

Articles from the Past Week

• Court Names New Rules Attorney

• Free Exercise Clause Bars False Imprisonment Claim. Pleasant Glade v. Schubert, No. 05-0916. Unless you have a very interesting practice, you won’t be citing this for the religion issue. You’ll be citing it to say that the doctrine of judicial estoppel has now been exorcised from Texas courts.

• Even Temporary Grandparent Visitation Orders Require Due Process to the Parent. In re Chambless, No. 07-0767 (per curiam).

• In re Office of the Attorney General, No. 08-0165. The child-support system case out of Dallas.

• Order List for 6-27-2008

• Catching Up on Links 6-27-2008

On Monday, the Court is scheduled to hold a private conference. Any cases decided or petitions set for argument should be noted on the Court’s regular Friday order list.

Articles from the Past Week

• Former Justice Baker Has Passed Away. That title says it all.

• Cases in the News 6-21-2008. The Austin Court’s “pet custody” decision and the Fort Worth Court’s decision permitting public disclosure of diocese sex-abuse records after the settlement of a lawsuit.

• Order List for 6-20-2008. Decisions in In re Fleetwood Homes of Texas, L.P., No. 06‑0943 (per curiam) and In re Lyon Fin. Servs., Inc., No. 07‑0486 (per curiam), as well as a grant of review in In re Collins, No. 07-0377.

• Cases in the News 6-20-2008.

On Monday, the Court is scheduled to hold a private conference. Any cases decided or petitions set for argument should be noted on the Court’s regular Friday order list.

Articles from the Past Week

• Rehear, Rinse, Repeat: Was Rehearing in Evanston Insurance v. ATOFINA Petrochemicals Barred by Rule 64.4?

• Order List of 6-12-2008.

• Cases in the News 6-12-2008.

• Republican Convention Skirmish in First Court.

• Finally, a Good Reason to Read the Footnotes.

This is the second week of the Court’s long summer period. For the next three weeks, its calendar looks like this:

On Monday, the Court is scheduled to hold a private conference. Any cases decided or petitions set for argument should be noted on the Court’s regular Friday order list.

The Court has not yet issued its argument schedule for the fall, but it has already chosen seventeen cases to be heard. (( Since last week, the Court has dismissed In re Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. (by agreement of the parties) and granted review in two new cases. ))

Articles from the Past Week

• Submarine Report: Other Thoughts on Friday’s Orders. As appellate practitioners know, the Court’s delay in handling particular cases can be a valuable clue about what it’s thinking. Last week’s order list was a good example.

• Order List of 6-6-2008.

• Providence Health Center v. Dowell. The Court’s divided decision that reversed a jury’s finding of causation in a patient’s suicide.

• Progressive County Mutual Insurance Co. v. Kelley. More details on one of the cases in which briefing was requested in late May.

• Four New Briefing Requests. If these four aren’t enough to satisfy you, you’ll be relieved to know that the Court issued a slew of new requests late last week that I’ll be summarizing soon.

This week begins the long summer stretch on the Court’s calendar. For the next four weeks, that calendar looks precisely like this:

On Monday, the Court is scheduled to hold a private conference. Any cases decided or petitions set for argument should be noted on the Court’s regular Friday order list.

The Court has not yet issued its argument schedule for the fall, but it has already chosen at least 16 cases to be heard. (( There is a little uncertainty about whether (and when) argument will be held in the additional case In re Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., No. 08-0289, petition, which is currently abated. ))

Articles from the Past Week

• Welcome to the Tyler Appeals Blog! There is a new legal blog in East Texas, and if your practice covers that area, it’s definitely worth checking out.

• Order List of 5-30-2008. The Court decided two cases, set two more for argument, and put to rest some long-pending petitions in a couple of medical-malpractice cases.

• A Few Other Reactions to the FLDS Case.

• Court Denies Mandamus in the FLDS Case.

• Court Requests a Response in FLDS Case [Updated 5/29].

• Briefing Requests for 5-27-2008.

• Another Case About Forum-Selection Clauses. The Court issues a stay and requests full briefing on the merits.

This shortened Memorial Day week could still be a big one at the Texas Supreme Court.

The Court was formally closed today, but the Justices have a private conference scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. One item for discussion might be the State’s Friday filing seeking emergency relief in the FLDS case.

Several Justices are also scheduled to appear this Thursday and Friday at UT’s annual appellate CLE in Austin.

Articles from the Past Week

• Memorial Weekend Briefing Requests. The Court requested merits briefing in 18 cases last week. This post runs down the whole list.

• State Seeks Reversal of Mandamus. On Friday afternoon, the State took the FLDS case up to the Court, seeking emergency relief. The mothers filed an immediate response to that request for emergency relief.

• Order List of 5-23-2008.

• In re Citigroup Global Markets, No. 06-0886. A post-Perry Homes waiver-of-arbitration decision from last week.

• Mothers Win FLDS Appeal in Austin Court.

• From Way Back: The Southwest Airlines Cases.

• Another Election Mandamus Sent Back Down. This is the In re Vanessa Cahill case challenging delegates to the Republican state convention.

This week, the Court’s calendar shows an “other session” for Monday through Wednesday, which I have been informed is for the annual meeting of the American Law Institute. (( I believe all of the members of the Texas Supreme Court are members of ALI — I was able to find confirmation online for eight of the nine. )) The Court is also expected to issue a regular order list this Friday.

Why carve out a whole week for the ALI meeting? The ALI brings you the “Restatements of the Law” on which courts so heavily rely. (I had a professor who liked to call them Pre-Statements of the Law, which might in some situations be a more fitting name.)

Because the In re Citigroup argument was removed from the schedule when that case was abated, there are no arguments currently on the Court’s calendar before the fall.

Articles from the Past Week

• “Briefing Requested in Dangerous-Animal Case From Fort Worth”. This was only the second request for full briefing by the Court so far this month.

• “A Little Disney Music”. Justice Wainwright has some fun with the cliche that dramatic changes in the law (here, the law of mandamus) will send us to “A whole new world….”

• Order List of 5-16-2008. The Court issued six new decisions and accepted four new cases to be argued. I also shifted to a new summary format. I will now be issuing the summaries of decisions and granted cases in separate blurbs. So far:

  • Higgins v. Randall County Sheriffs Office, No. 06-0917

  • City of Dallas v. Reed, No. 07-0469 (per curiam)

• “Texas Court Overturns Vioxx Ruling”.

• “Caption of the Day”. Funny things sometimes happen with the captions to in rem cases. I’ve seen much funnier examples, but they are rare in the Texas Supreme Court.

• “Macias Election Trial Can Proceed”. Actually, after losing this attempt to change judges, Macias chose to drop his claims.

• “Clear Channel Argument Set”. It was un-set a few days later, and the case is now abated.

On Monday, the Texas Supreme Court’s calendar shows an “other session” of the Court representing the ceremony in Austin swearing new members into the Texas bar.

Tuesday and Wednesday, the Court’s calendar shows a private conference. Any petitions granted or opinions issued should be noted on the Court’s regular order list this Friday.

Articles from the Past Week

• “Order List of 5-9-2008”.

• “Rule 13 Case from the CCA”. If you sign your name to court papers in any civil case, you’ll probably want to be aware of this decision from Texas’s CCA.

• “‘Report says most Texas Supreme Court opinions anonymous’”. This seems like a non-story that has gotten outsized treatment in the newspapers. By “anonymous,” the report just means the Court’s per curiam docket. And while there is much to say about that docket, the report doesn’t actually try to advance that discussion.

• “Macias election case update”.

• “News and Links for 5-5-2008”.