Texas
Featured
U.S. Supreme Court
Jun 2023
Danco Laboratories, LLC, v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine; U.S. FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine
The American Civil Liberties Union joined over 200 reproductive health, rights, and justice organizations in an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in support of an emergency request to stay a decision issued by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that severely restricted the use of mifepristone — a medication used in most abortions in this country — and threatened the innovation of new drugs and the ability of Americans to access lifesaving drugs.
Status: Stayed
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U.S. Supreme Court
Dec 2021
Whole Woman's Health v. Jackson
The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas, and coalition partners filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of abortion providers and funds on July 13, 2021, challenging S.B. 8, a Texas law allowing private citizens to enforce a ban on abortion as early as six weeks in pregnancy—before many know they are pregnant. The ACLU’s challenge made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court three times in as many months. After hearing oral arguments in the case, the Court issued a decision on December 10, 2021, that ended the most promising pathways to blocking the ban. The Supreme Court’s decision makes it more difficult to obtain adequate relief from the courts and gives states the green light to ban abortion using bounty-hunting schemes. Texas’ abortion ban will remain in effect until relief can be secured from a court.
Status: Closed (Judgment)
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Texas
Jul 2021
Sanchez et al v. Dallas County Sheriff et al
Decarceration has always been an emergency, a life and death proposition, but COVID-19 makes this effort intensely urgent. The ACLU has been working with our partners to litigate for the rights of those who are incarcerated and cannot protect themselves because of the policies of the institutions in which they are jailed.
Status: Ongoing
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All Cases
42 Texas Cases
Texas
Apr 2011
Estrada v. The State of Texas
Jurors in Estrada's 2007 sentencing trial were incorrectly told by a State's prison expert that if Estrada were given a sentence of life without parole instead of the death penalty, he could be eligible for a classification level that would allow him to leave the prison grounds after 10 years of imprisonment. Two juror notes strongly suggested that the expert's false testimony led to their decision to sentence Estrada to death. Prosecutors' use of false and misleading evidence is a leading cause of wrongful death sentences in Texas and nationwide.
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Texas
Smart Justice
Capital Punishment
Estrada v. The State of Texas
Jurors in Estrada's 2007 sentencing trial were incorrectly told by a State's prison expert that if Estrada were given a sentence of life without parole instead of the death penalty, he could be eligible for a classification level that would allow him to leave the prison grounds after 10 years of imprisonment. Two juror notes strongly suggested that the expert's false testimony led to their decision to sentence Estrada to death. Prosecutors' use of false and misleading evidence is a leading cause of wrongful death sentences in Texas and nationwide.
Apr 2011
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U.S. Supreme Court
Aug 2010
Sossamon v. Texas
Whether the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, which was designed in part to protect the religious rights of prisoners, allows prisoners to sue a state for money damages when a state violates those religious rights.
Status: Closed (Judgment)
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U.S. Supreme Court
National Security
+3 Issues
Sossamon v. Texas
Whether the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, which was designed in part to protect the religious rights of prisoners, allows prisoners to sue a state for money damages when a state violates those religious rights.
Aug 2010
Status: Closed (Judgment)
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