In mid-August, the Court will hold a long conference as its new clerks start their year.

By around the same time, the Court should also announce its fall argument calendar.

This starts a new pattern for the month of June, with a conference scheduled each Monday — a chance to finish up any lingering work for the term. After that, no conferences are scheduled until mid-August, when the new law clerks arrive for the fall.

Articles from the Past Week

• The big news of the week was the Governor’s veto of S.B. 2038, which passed the Legislature overwhelmingly and would have immediately changed some of the ground rules for statutory construction.

  Before that veto, the press had focused on the other Entergy-inspired bill, which would have changed the substantive workers compensation law. That Entergy bill was “apparently dead” in the closing days of the Legislative session.

• Adam Liptak wrote about studies suggesting that results of U.S. Supreme Court cases can be predicted by comparing the number of questions each side is asked by the Justices at oral argument.

• The Court ended its week with a quiet order list, with which no petitions were granted and no opinions issued.

Articles from the Past Week

• On Friday, the Court issued opinions in four cases. One of them was a fairly significant case about shareholder derivative suits in Texas, which although rare, are of great concern to the corporations formed here. I summarized this case in my post about the order list

• The other three cases all related to the Texas Tort Claims Act. In all three, the Court held that the state was immune from suit. Summaries of those cases are also in my post about the order list.

Articles from the past week

• On Friday, the Court issued opinions in three cases. My summaries of all three cases are in that post. (My post going into a little more detail about the Crites case is still on the back burner.)

• The Court also formally accepted the Fifth Circuit’s certified question in the Severance case, mentioned in this earlier post.

Articles from the Past Week

• Last week, there were several newspaper mentions of SB 780, which would require the Texas Supreme Court to disclose its internal votes on petitions. I noted one of them here.

• In the same blog post, I reacted to a suggestion made on Texas Appellate Law Blog about making Texas’s cross-appeals rules more like the federal model.

• And, on Friday, the Court issued a quiet order list. No opinions were released, and no petitions were granted.

Articles from the Past Week

• The Fifth Circuit has certified a new question about the constitutionality of the Texas Open Beaches Act. This has gotten some attention for the colorful dissent from the panel decision.

• In last week’s relatively quiet order list, the Court did not grant any petitions or issue any opinions.

Articles from the Past Week

• The Court decided four cases in last week’s order list, including the Tanner high-speed car-chase case. The Court also granted review in State of Texas v. $281,400 in US Currency, the case in which the Court made a formal CVSG request last fall.

• The Rules Advisory Committee took up proposed rules to clarify the post-trial motion process and also provide for electronic filing in Texas state appellate courts.

• Other bills continue to wind their way through the Legislature, including bills related to Entergy and the case about whether public employees’ exact dates of birth should be confidential.

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.

• 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 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.