Texas Tribune
Harris County judge remains on bench amid election challenge
by By Alejandro Serrano, The Texas Tribune – 2024-05-23 05:00:00
SUMMARY: Judge DaSean Jones faces potential removal after a fellow judge ruled he may have been incorrectly declared the winner of a 2022 Harris County election due to over 1,430 invalid votes. Despite ordering a new election, Judge David Peeples' ruling didn't strip Jones of his position or undo his decisions since taking office in January 2023. Jones is appealing the order, and the case may escalate to the Texas Supreme Court. The situation raises concerns about costs and election precedents, especially amidst tighter voting regulations by Republican lawmakers in Texas. Jones remains on the bench during the ongoing legal process.
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HOUSTON — A day after a fellow judge ruled that he may have incorrectly been named the winner of a 2022 election to Harris County's 180th District Court, Judge DaSean Jones sat in the courtroom on the 18th floor of a downtown courthouse last week and presided over a trial.
While Judge David Peeples ordered a new election for what was a narrow judicial race, his ruling didn't strip Jones of his position — and it didn't undo any of the myriad decisions Jones has made in innumerable cases that have come before him since he took office in January 2023.
That may not stop lawyers from trying to overturn the outcomes of cases over which Jones presided if there is a new election that ousts Jones, according to political observers.
“Nobody seems to know what exactly would happen to those cases,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political scientist at the University of Houston. “This is not a test that has a legitimate grounds of an appeal. I think we don't know what precisely this would look like.”
But any potential challenges would be unprecedented — and likely become a question for the legal system to answer. And Peeples' ruling was aimed squarely at how Harris County elections counted ballots in the race — not at anything Jones did.
“This is a pretty unprecedented situation but I would be surprised if it was anything that affected any cases that he tried, as far as them being overturned or anything like that,” said Murray Newman, a defense lawyer who also serves as the president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association.
Jones, a Democrat, beat Republican Tami Pierce by 449 votes. Pierce and several other Republican candidates on the November 2022 ballot contested that and other elections. Peeples upheld the outcomes in 20 contested races — but after a two-day trial in April, found that more than 1,430 votes were cast illegally in Jones' race against Pierce. Peeples said many were invalid because voters lived outside Harris County, had other residency-related issues or failed to show a valid identification
Since it wasn't known who got the majority of those votes — and because the number of those ballots is larger than Jones' margin over Pierce — Peeples ordered a new election. Jones' lawyer is appealing that order. Jones will remain on the bench during the appellate process, and the case is expected to eventually make it to the Texas Supreme Court.
Regardless of the outcome, the case has already raised concerns about the cost of holding a new election in Texas' largest county — and what it could mean for elections across the state.
“This is really more of a political battle more so than a criminal justice battle,” Newman said. “The issue is going to be how we look at elections that are close, and do we really want to set into a precedent where we have this much uncertainty?”
Jones' lawyer, Oliver Brown, blamed the current election system on the errors that Peeples identified.
“The most troubling part about all of these cases is that our Texas election code places a burden on candidates to defend the ballot box and not the government,” Brown wrote in an email this week. “It is time for the Legislature to revamp the entire election contest process and hold the government responsible for protecting democracy. My client was not responsible for any of the errors alleged in the election process.“
In Harris County, the fight over a judicial seat may be Republicans' last battleground in a county that has been reliably Democratic for years, said Newman, the defense lawyer.
Republican state lawmakers have targeted Harris County over how officials operate elections since at least 2020, when local leaders expanded voting access during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, the Republican-controlled Legislature passed sweeping legislation that further restricted the state's voting process and narrowed local control of elections. In 2023, the lawmakers passed a bill eliminating Harris County's chief elections official and allowing state officials to intervene and supervise the county's elections in response to administrative complaints.
For Jones, another potential political wrinkle is a rule that limits judges from running for two seats at the same time, said Rottinghaus, the political scientist. Jones will be on the ballot in November for a seat on the Texas Supreme Court. It is not clear what would happen if the order for a new election for the district court's judicial seat is upheld and also scheduled for November.
Historically, losers of tight races demanded a recount, which have typically affirmed the outcome, said Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University.
If a new election for the Harris judicial seat is ultimately held, scrutinizing which ballots election officials do or don't count in narrow races could become the new playbook for contesting elections.
“Now this has opened the door to another way to challenge,” Mark Jones said.
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The post Harris County judge remains on bench amid election challenge appeared first on TexasTribune.org.
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Texas Tribune
Former Southern Baptist leader Paul Pressler dead at 94
by By Robert Downen, The Texas Tribune – 2024-06-15 18:40:13
SUMMARY: Paul Pressler, a prominent Southern Baptist leader and Republican activist, passed away on June 7 at 94. Pressler played a key role in the Southern Baptist Convention's conservative resurgence, opposing homosexuality and aligning with the Republican Party. He faced numerous sexual abuse allegations, resulting in a confidential lawsuit settlement six months before his death. Pressler's contributions included influencing GOP politics, notably supporting figures like Ted Cruz. Despite his significant impact, his death received muted attention. Pressler's legacy was marred by the scandal that contributed to a broader investigation and reforms within the Southern Baptist Convention regarding sex abuse.
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Paul Pressler, the monumental Southern Baptist leader and Republican activist at the center of a massive sex abuse scandal, died on June 7. He was 94.
It's unclear what Pressler's cause of death was, but a funeral service was held for him Saturday in Houston. Pressler was one of the most influential, if lesser-known, evangelical figures of the last half-century, having co-led a movement in the Southern Baptist Convention that pushed the nation's second-largest faith group to adopt literal interpretations of the Bible, strongly condemn homosexuality and more closely align with the Republican Party.
His death came barely six months after he confidentially settled a high-profile lawsuit with a former member of his youth group who accused him of decades of rape. As part of the suit, at least six other men came forward alleging that they were abused or solicited for sex by Pressler in a string of incidents dating from 1978 to 2016. Pressler denied the allegations and was never criminally charged.
Monumental as Pressler's legacy was, his death was largely kept quiet until Saturday, when a Baptist outlet first reported on the memorial service. Last week, the Southern Baptist Convention held its annual meeting, and it does not appear that any leaders made any remarks about his passing.
Herman Paul Pressler III was born in Houston in 1930 and attended New Jersey's exclusive Phillips Exeter Academy before attending Princeton University. After graduating from Princeton in 1952, he attended the University of Texas at Austin's law school and, as a 27-year-old student, was elected to represent a Houston-based district in the Texas House. He was later appointed by Texas Gov. Dolph Briscoe to a powerful seat on Texas' 14th Court of Appeals, where he served for 14 years.
While on the bench, Pressler helped plot and lead the SBC's “conservative resurgence,” a 20-year power struggle in which Pressler and his allies drove more moderate Baptists from the denomination, successfully pushed for bans on female pastors and solidified white evangelical support for the Republican Party.
Pressler was also an early member of the Council For National Policy, a secretive network of powerful business, religious and media elites that has pushed the GOP toward deregulation and to further infuse their conservative Christian views into public life. In 1989, Pressler was nominated to lead the Office of Government Ethics under President George H.W. Bush, though his nomination was later withdrawn.
From 2000 and onward — and with the battle for the SBC won — Pressler increasingly focused on Republican Party politics. In 2007, Louisiana College announced its plans for the Judge Paul Pressler School of Law, though the school never opened due to funding and accreditation issues. The school's trustee board included Family Research Council leader Tony Perkins and David Barton, the Texas activist who has for years claimed that church-state separation is a “myth.” The school's dean was Mike Johnson, who was later elected speaker of the U.S. House.
In 2012, as U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, a Mormon, led in the GOP presidential primary, Pressler gathered some of the nation's most powerful Christians at his West Texas ranch, rallying them over two days to back fellow evangelical Rick Santorum. In 2013, the Texas House honored his service to the conservative, Christian cause in a resolution that was presented on the chamber's floor. A year later, Pressler served on the advisory team for incoming Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. And Pressler was an early and key endorser of Ted Cruz in his Senate campaign and as he ran for president in 2015.
As Pressler continued to wield political influence, he also allegedly raped, groped or solicited at least six men, including one who says he was 14 when he was first sexually abused while a member of Pressler's youth group. Those allegations were outlined in a 2017 lawsuit that also accused prominent Southern Baptist leaders and churches of concealing or enabling Pressler's behavior, which they deny.
The lawsuit was the impetus for a major 2019 investigation by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News that found more than 400 Southern Baptist church leaders or volunteers had been charged with sex crimes since 2000. The series prompted reforms in the SBC, as well as an ongoing Department of Justice investigation into the denomination's handling of sex abuse complaints.
Pressler was a member of Houston's First or Second Baptist churches for nearly all of his adult life.
Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
Just in: Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming; U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania; and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt will take the stage at The Texas Tribune Festival, Sept. 5–7 in downtown Austin. Buy tickets today!
The post Former Southern Baptist leader Paul Pressler dead at 94 appeared first on TexasTribune.org.
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Texas Tribune
Texas STAAR test: Student math and science scores plummet
by By Sneha Dey, The Texas Tribune – 2024-06-14 12:47:49
SUMMARY: State testing data reveals significant declines in Texas students' math and science scores post-pandemic. Only 26% of fifth graders met science standards, a 21-point drop since 2019. Math scores also fell, with 41% of students demonstrating adequate understanding. The data underscores COVID-19's severe impact on learning, with concerns about lasting workforce implications. Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath noted that disruptions have hindered students' math proficiency. However, bilingual students showed notable gains, surpassing pre-pandemic levels in reading and social studies. The story is developing, with upcoming appearances by political figures at The Texas Tribune Festival in Austin.
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State testing data released Friday shows students' math and science scores slipped as they continue to struggle to catch up after the pandemic.
Texas elementary students who took the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness exam this spring saw striking drops in their understanding of science. Only 26% of fifth graders met science grade-level standards this year, a steep decline of 21 percentage points from 2019.
In math, Texas students lost ground after two years of modest post-pandemic gains. About 41% of students demonstrated an adequate understanding of math on their tests, with declines across grades compared to last year.
The results further illustrate the toll the COVID-19 pandemic exacted on student learning and the long road toward recovery still ahead. Education experts worry the disruption in learning could have long-lasting impacts on how students fare in the workforce.
“It's clear that math performance is not where students need it to be for success after graduation,” said Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath. “Pandemic-induced disruptions to learning exacerbated students' difficulties in mastering fundamental math concepts.”
Elementary and middle school students from third through eighth grade are required to take the STAAR test in math and reading. In addition, fifth-graders are tested in science and eighth-graders in science and social studies.
A bright spot in the STAAR test data was the gains bilingual students have made, though their scores still lag behind the rest of the state. They've surpassed pre-pandemic levels in reading and social studies by 12 and 6 percentage points, respectively. Bilingual students have narrowed the gap between their pre- and post-pandemic performance in math and science, compared to their peers.
This is a developing story; check back for details.
Just in: Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming; U.S. Sen. Jon Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania; and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt will take the stage at The Texas Tribune Festival, Sept. 5–7 in downtown Austin. Buy tickets today!
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The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Texas Tribune
Austin gun shop owner wins fight to overturn bump stock ban
by By Dante Motley, The Texas Tribune – 2024-06-14 11:20:58
SUMMARY: An Austin gun shop owner, Michael Cargill, won a Supreme Court case overturning a federal ban on bump stocks. The court's 6-3 decision ruled that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) wrongly classified bump stocks as machine guns under legislation banning such weapons. Bump stocks enable semi-automatic rifles to fire rapidly. Cargill's case, supported by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, argued that ATF overstepped its authority. Justice Clarence Thomas stated that bump stocks do not make a semi-automatic rifle a machine gun. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, asserting bump stocks fit the machine gun definition.
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An Austin gun shop owner succeeded Friday on a years-long quest to overturn a federal ban on bump stocks, winning a 6-3 victory from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Bump stocks are devices that allow semi-automatic rifles to fire hundreds of rounds in a minute. The court ruled the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives can not include bump stocks under legislation banning machine guns. The overturned ATF rule required owners of bump stocks to either destroy them or surrender them to the ATF to avoid criminal prosecution.
The case was filed by Michael Cargill, the owner of Central Texas Gun Works and an outspoken proponent of gun rights in Texas, after he surrendered two bump stocks to the ATF. He argued that ATF incorrectly identified bump stocks as machine guns, and overstepped its power in banning them. He brought the case with the support of the advocacy group the New Civil Liberties Alliance.
The almost 100-year-old law banning machine guns defines the weapon as “any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.” The ATF began including bump stocks under the definition of “machinegun” during the Trump administration in response to the deadly mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip in 2017.
“We hold that a semiautomatic rifle equipped with a bump stock is not a ‘machinegun' because it cannot fire more than one shot ‘by a single function of the trigger,'” wrote Clarence Thomas in the majority opinion. “And, even if it could, it would not do so ‘automatically.'”
This case does not directly address the Second Amendment but rather the limits of executive agencies' authority.
In an X.com video, Cargill expressed hope that this ruling would prevent the ATF from banning other gun accessories like braces and triggers.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a dissenting opinion joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, disagreed with the majority's interpretation. She wrote, “When I see a bird that walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.”
She argued that a bump-stock-equipped semiautomatic rifle fits the definition of a machine gun because it fires “automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.”
As debates over gun control and Second Amendment rights continue, this ruling underscores the ongoing tension between legislative intent and regulatory authority.
Just in: Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming; U.S. Sen. Jon Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania; and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt will take the stage at The Texas Tribune Festival, Sept. 5–7 in downtown Austin. Buy tickets today!
The post Austin gun shop owner wins fight to overturn bump stock ban appeared first on TexasTribune.org.
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
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