The Texas Supreme Court did not release any opinions with today’s order list.

The Court did grant the State’s motion to particpate in the upcoming oral argument in City of Dallas v. VSC, LLC, No. 08-0265 (more info), a case about when the exercise of the state’s police power could violate the takings clause. The Court had invited the views of the Texas solicitor general in June, and that office filed a brief in September. (( A quick scan of the brief’s Table of Authorities showed a citation to John Milton, which turned out to be a reference to the metaphorical “sophistic Miltonian Serbonian Bog.” For those curious enough to spend $12.50, Lexis will sell you a law review article about the history of this metaphor, which the synopsis teases “has appeared in no fewer than 222 state and federal cases since 1847.”

I’m not quite that curious. But I couldn’t help noticing one strange link between this metaphor and Texas Solicitor General Jim Ho, who submitted this brief. According to Above the Law — “[t]he good news [of his hiring at Texas SG] first surfaced” on the publication Sophistic Miltonian Serbonian Blog.
))