This week, the Texas Supreme Court’s calendar shows an “other session” of the Court for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I have been told this represents the Court’s participation in the Fifth Circuit Conference being held in San Antonio.

On Friday, the Court is scheduled to release its regular order list.

Articles from the Past Week

• “Links on Perry Homes”

• “Order List of 5-2-2008”

The Court is scheduled to hold a private conference today. Any cases decided or petitions granted should be reflected on this Friday’s order list.

Articles from the Past Week

• “How Does the Texas Litigation Fit Into the Clear Channel Merger Battle?” This posts links to a good analysis of the situation that includes a discussion of how keeping the Texas litigation alive alters the bargaining position of the banks and of Clear Channel.

• “Order List of 4-25-2008” A quiet week.

• “Cases in the News 4-24-2008”

• “Third Court To Hear Expedited FLDS Appeal” It turns out, however, that the Court cancelled the argument and denied the emergency relief. The explanation of why is interesting.

• “What Not To Say at Oral Argument” A Fifth Circuit example.

• “Yesterday’s Arguments in Lubbock”

This week, the Supreme Court of Texas is traveling to hear oral arguments at Texas Tech in Lubbock.

Oral arguments this week

Tuesday April 22, 2008:

• Kerlin v. Sauceda, No. 05-0653, from the Thirteenth Court

  This case is a dispute over the ownership of part of Padre Island. As I wrote about before, the appeal largely concerns whether the dispute is too late. COA Opinion

• Phillips v. Bramlett, 07-0522, from the Seventh Court. This medical-malpractice case involves issues about how to properly preserve a challenge to a jury argument, as well as how the medical-malpractice cap affects claims brought under the Stowers doctrine. My summary of the grant is here.

Articles from the Past Week

• “Cases in the News 4-21-2008”

• “Details on Texas Tech’s New Courtroom”

• “Order List of 4-18-2008”

This week, the Court has a private conference scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. Any new decisions, denials, or grants should be released with the Court’s regular Friday order list.

The Court’s next oral-argument sitting is scheduled for April 22nd at Texas Tech School of Law.

Articles from the past week:

• “Snippets and Links 4-13-2008”

• “Does a Diverse Court Attract More Followers?”

• “Order List of 4-11-2008”

• “New Texas SG” Jim Ho (formerly of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Dallas) is named to take over for Ted Cruz at Texas’s SG.

• “Hires at the Court; One Opening Remains”

• “The Proposed Appellate Rule Changes and Oral Argument” Some discussion of the new rules governing oral argument in the intermediate courts of appeals.

• “Cases in the News 4-8-2008”

This week, the Texas Supreme Court does not have a scheduled conference or any oral arguments. The Court is, however, scheduled to issue is regular order list this Friday.

The blog should be much more active this week. I definitely have some catching up to do.

The Court’s next oral-argument sitting (and I believe the last one of the term) is scheduled for April 22nd at Texas Tech School of Law.

Articles from the past week:

• About Last Week. This is a personal post, not a court-related post.

• Order List of 4-4-2008.

This week, the Court has a full plate, with a private conference Monday, oral arguments on both Tuesday and Wednesday, and then the regular order list on Friday.

Oral arguments this week:

Tuesday April 1, 2008: Prodigy Communications Corp. v. Agricultural Excess & Surplus Insurance Co., No. 06-0598 [covered here], Edwards Aquifer Authority v. Chemical Lime, Ltd., No. 06-0911 [covered here], and Financial Industries Corporation v. XL Specialty Insurance Co., No. 07-1059 [covered here]

Wednesday April 2, 2008: In re Caballero, No. 07-0484 [covered here], City of Waco v. Kelly, No. 07-0485 [covered here], and In re Schmitz [covered here]

Articles from the past week:

• “Order List of 3-28-2008 [Details To Follow]” Unfortunately, the details will be following a little more slowly than I had hoped. I’ll be getting the case summaries up on the blog as I can complete them.

• “More Pro Bono Referrals.” The Court has referred two more cases (its third and fourth overall) to the State Bar’s new pro bono program to aid civil litigants.

• “Justice Willett in George Will’s Column”

• “Osler McCarthy’s Response (and Mine) To Recent Backlog Stories”

• “Oral Argument Calendar: Almost Full? Already There?”

• “Hall Street and Bison Building Materials.” The Supreme Court of the United States resolves a pending question about the Federal Arbitration Act — and its holding seems to change the assumptions both sides made in the pending Texas case Bison Building Materials.

• “Judicial Elections Under Attack Elsewhere, Too”

Last week, the Court had a conference but no (formal) orders list. ((As last week illustrates, of course, the lack of a scheduled order list didn’t stop the Court from issuing a very substantial number of briefing-related orders. It just meant the Court did not release a list of dispositions on the merits.)) This week, the situation is reversed — the Court has no arguments or conference scheduled, but it is scheduled to again release orders this Friday.

Articles from the past week:

• “A Good Friday for Briefing Requests”. The Court requested full briefing in 15 more cases, including one about the privacy of attorney records at the state bar and two related to a defamation case growing out of 9/11 coverage.

• “More Action on the Pending Child Support Mandamus Action”.

• “No Order List This Week”. Technically true, but I seem to have spoken too soon.

• Wills and Estates + Error Preservation = BOM”.

This St. Patrick’s Day week includes some entries on the Court’s calendar —

• On both Monday and Tuesday, the Court is scheduled to hold a private conference. A sentence like that would normally be followed by my assurance that “any orders or decisions should be reflected on this Friday’s weekly order list.” But…

• This Friday happens to also be Good Friday, and the Court’s calendar shows that no weekly order list is expected on that day.

It would be a long wait between this week’s conferences and next week’s order list. If the Court does issue some orders earlier than that, I’ll keep you posted.

The Court’s next oral argument sitting is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, April 1st.

Articles from the past week:

• “Cases in the News 3-15-2008”

• “Order List of 3-14-2008”

• “Where Does a Tenth Staff Attorney Fit on the Lineup Card?” [Updated]

• “NYT Article About State Supreme Court Influence”