Conservative pundits hyperventilate over Donald Trump. Before I wade into the overwrought debate over the prospective 2016 Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, allow me several caveats. First, like many conservatives, I supported a candidate other than Trump during the primary season (w…
Month: May 2016
The Problem of the Cities
Ever since people began migrating in large numbers from America’s rural areas to its urban areas in the 19th century, cities have presented unique challenges: sanitation, housing, transportation, education, public safety, and fire protection, to name just a few. Responding to these challenges …
Good News and Bad News on School Finance in Texas
The long-awaited decision from the Texas Supreme Court in the school finance case, Morath v. Texas Taxpayer and Student Fairness Coalition, was issued on May 13, 2016. (The case was argued over eight months earlier.) The court’s jargon-laden 100-page (!) decision can be summarized with this sen…
Not So Fast, Kamala Harris
Once thought a shoo-in to be California’s next senator, the rising Democratic star might be in for a surprise in November. In the wacky world of California politics, it’s a virtual certainty that no Republican will make it past the June 7 primary in the race to succeed retiring U.S. senator B…
Sticking with Edgewood
On the subject of school finance, the Texas Supreme Court doggedly refuses to overturn an activist precedent from a prior era. In San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez (1973), a lawsuit brought by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) challenging spending…
Texas Voters Get a Re-Do in Important Judicial Election
No, the governor of Wisconsin is NOT running for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. In a recent series of posts (here, here, here, and here), on Bench Memos and elsewhere, I discussed the various candidates running in the March 1 Republican primary for the Texas Supreme Court. In Texas, all jud…
Trial Lawyer Fox Running to Guard the GOP Hen House
In an election season abounding with ironies, one of the strangest is the campaign now being waged by Houston personal injury trial lawyer Jared Woodfill to lead the Republican Party of Texas. The RPT platform, you see, advocates tort reform and opposes frivolous lawsuits, whereas Woodfill has a …