U.S. Supreme Court

Bong Hits 4 Jesus

Trying to Make Amens

If only there were school prayer. If only it were that simple.

Dimitri's Last Stand

Will naturalists rid the wetlands of a wily immigrant's sex clubs?

This Just In: Sometimes Voters Aren't Very Informed About Candidates

Will naturalists rid the wetlands of a wily immigrant's sex clubs?

Death Row Show

The media makes causes of more and more capital murder convicts. Meanwhile, John Albert Burks dies almost unnoticed, just another inmate moving along on the efficient execution assembly line of Texas justice.

Knowing Right from Wrong

Did Johnny Penry's abusive childhood prevent him from developing a moral compass that might have stopped him from murdering Pam Carpenter? Or is he just another cold, calculating killer?

Best Court Ruling

U.S. District Judge David Hittner

Houston Astrologers Pick The Presidential Race

U.S. District Judge David Hittner

The Nation Notices Harris County Ain't Killing People Much These Days

We first broke the news in October; the Houston Chronicle noticed it earlier this month, and now Time magazine has discovered it: There will be no one sent to Death Row from Harris County this year.Which, in historical terms, is kind of like saying Texas high schools will not be sending anyone to bi ... More >>

Texas Exorcism Case Goes to Washington

With the Christmas season lingering, there's one fellow who's been left out of the merriment and good tidings. A certain fellow with horns and a pitchfork. And he seems to be doing whatever he can to snatch a bit of the spotlight, as evidenced in an exorcism lawsuit that might be reviewed by the U.S ... More >>

Letters

With the Christmas season lingering, there's one fellow who's been left out of the merriment and good tidings. A certain fellow with horns and a pitchfork. And he seems to be doing whatever he can to snatch a bit of the spotlight, as evidenced in an exorcism lawsuit that might be reviewed by the U.S ... More >>

Rough Justice

Last week Anthony Ray Westley was executed for a murder he may not have committed. Only his lawyer and family seemed to care.

A Family Affair

Roland Garcia has the political backing to be the U.S. Attorney for South Texas. He also has a brother imprisoned for murder and drug trafficking -- a fact he somehow forgot to tell his congressional sponsors. That may not be enough to disqualify him, but

The Judge Who Couldn't Wait Files A Response

Sharon Keller, chief justice of the state's highest criminal court, has filed her response to charges that she refused to keep the office open for an hour to accept an appeal on behalf of a guy being executed that night.Essentially, none of it's her fault, and the guy was guilty anyway.The Houston C ... More >>

News of the Weird

Sharon Keller, chief justice of the state's highest criminal court, has filed her response to charges that she refused to keep the office open for an hour to accept an appeal on behalf of a guy being executed that night.Essentially, none of it's her fault, and the guy was guilty anyway.The Houston C ... More >>

Guantánamo's Final Days

As America prepares to close the infamous camp, what about those prisoners?

No Pain, No Gain

Our solution for saving Texas's claim to capital punishment fame

The Thin Gray Line

There's not much difference between a bounty hunter and a cop, save for a lot of regulation and a little respect

A Matter of Trust

Creditors of an estate debt try to collect from a councilmember and the former U.S. solicitor general

Draining the Swamp

A scorched-earth management philosophy is sucking the life out of our region's wetlands

Ties That Bind?

The D.A. shares something with those he's supposed to be probing: campaign support

Best Court Ruling Best Court Ruling

The Supreme Court's sodomy decision

Back Door to History

Thank J.R. Quinn for the gay celebrations

Dumb and Dumber

Rod Paige does no better when he doesn't have an answer than when he does

Child Support

The same extreme measures that saved Sidney Miller at birth also severely disabled her 11 years ago. Texas courts are still trying to determine who should pay for it -- and could set a legal precedent in the process.

Left Return

Once burdened by debt and internal politics, a rejuvenated Texas ACLU is back mixing it up with those who dare to trample on the U. S. Constitution.

Hanging with Mr. X

Quanell comes on strong at Graham's execution, then vanishes

Press Picks

Quanell comes on strong at Graham's execution, then vanishes

Janet Jackson's Houston Nipple Flash Refuses To Die

What, you thought you were getting nip?The single greatest news event to occur in Houston since the turn of the century -- one that's clearly gotten more ink than Ike -- is Janet Jackson's Super Bowl-icious nipple. (Katrina we're counting as a N'Awlins event.)The Awesome Areola is back in the ... More >>

Five Great Moments In Houston's Gay History

Gays, lesbians, transgenders, bisexuals, transsexuals and their friends will be marching in the 2009 Houston Pride parade Saturday night (this year's theme is "Out for Justice").To add to the festivities, we thought we'd recap some of the highlights of Houston's GLBT history. 1958: Ray Hill came ou ... More >>

Sotomayor and cojones vs huevos

Gays, lesbians, transgenders, bisexuals, transsexuals and their friends will be marching in the 2009 Houston Pride parade Saturday night (this year's theme is "Out for Justice").To add to the festivities, we thought we'd recap some of the highlights of Houston's GLBT history. 1958: Ray Hill came ou ... More >>

No Justice

We've bailed out the banks. When do we go after the crooks behind our financial collapse?

Federal Judge Dismisses Suit Involving Alleged Spy Shot By HPD Officers

​In the court of law, it never really mattered whether Roland Carnaby was a spy, as he claimed just before police gunned him down along the highway following a high-speed chase. After all, his widow, Susan, was suing the City of Houston and a pair of its police officers in federal court for excess ... More >>

Quote Of The Day, From The Judge Who Had An Affair With A Prosecutor

​The odd case of Charles Dean Hood has been a subject of talk for a while. He was convicted of killing a Plano couple -- there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of doubt about it -- but he's got a unique appellate argument: The judge and his prosecutor had been lovers.Back in our cub-reporting days, ... More >>

Jeff Skilling Gets Even More Desperate To Prove Houston's Full of Hatahs

​Today is the big day before the U.S. Supreme Court for Jeff Skilling, former Enron exec, former Manhattan party animal, current federal inmate.Among other things, Skilling's lawyers are arguing that his federal trial should have been moved from Houston because we all were so affected by Enron tha ... More >>

I Wanna Be Your Dog (Or Cat): SCOTUS Edition

With the Supreme Court's decision Tuesday to nix a law criminalizing the production and sale of dog-fighting and crush videos, Hair Balls is nervously waiting to see if there's going to be a big local boom in the Houston market. After all, Harris County prosecutors are remarkably soft on dog-fi ... More >>

Sonia Sotomayor Critiques The Chronicle

Reads the Chron's sports section, at least when it's cited in legal briefs​The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Enron honcho Jeffrey Skilling's trial should not have been moved out of Houston, no matter what he thinks. (Skilling did better on other arguments, but overall nothing much changed.)Son ... More >>

KPFT Knocked Off Air -- Not By The KKK This Time

No Elena Kagan hearings for KPFT listeners​Pacifica station KPFT-FM has been knocked off the air and may not be able to broadcast over the airwaves until tomorrow because of damage to its radio tower.Don't blame the KKK this time. Blame copper thieves.A group of what KPFT general manager Duane Bra ... More >>

MoveOn.org Throws a Little Protest in Houston

Photos by Christopher Patronella, Jr.Moveon.org, throwing signs. See a slideshow from yesterday's protest.​Local members of MoveOn.org held a rally Tuesday taking aim at corporate control in Washington, delivering petition signatures to the Heights office of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and ur ... More >>

Two-Thirds Of Texans Blow Off Church; Even More Don't Want No "Social Justice" With Their Religion, Thank You

Two-thirds of those polled knew who this guy was?​The latest UT/Texas Tribune poll shows some stuff to give Democrats hope (Rick Perry polling at his usual 39 percent, etc.), but there are also some interesting things in the throw-away questions on the survey.UT/TT polled 800 registered voters, an ... More >>

"The Wreck Of The Old 97": Country's First Million-Seller

Before the Edmund Fitzgerald went down with all hands, inspiring Gordon Lightfoot's famous ballad, there was another wreck and another song. In 1903, The Southern Railway had a deal with the United States Postal Service for mail delivery. One of the trains involved in the mail haul was The Fast M ... More >>

Anna Nicole Smith: The U.S. Supreme Court Decides To Get Involved

Anna Nicole Smith's court case lives on​The Anna Nicole Smith litigation, which seemingly has gone on as long as her career did, is not over yet.The U.S. Supreme Court, of all people, has decided to wade into the case and rule on whether a Houston jury made the right decision when it kept Smith fr ... More >>

Your Buzzword Is My Band Name, Part 1

Friedrich Glorian via Flickr​It's a Google-rific society we be a-living in, and the fastest way to notoriety is to coin a phrase that, when Guantanamo Bayed safely between quotation marks in a search field, will bring up endless debate upon your win or fail. We have been blessed with some rea ... More >>

Rappers Vs. Uncle Sam: N.W.A., Eminem, Kanye...

​Mike Myers will probably go down in history as the most uncomfortable white guy next to a black guy in TV history, thanks to Kanye West's unscripted outburst during that infamous Hurricane Katrina telethon. It began with Myers reading his part of the script verbatim. Two-thirds into the PSA, ... More >>

Whitney Harper: Song Downloader's Appeal Slapped Down By U.S. Supreme Court

Faith Hill shall not be denied​Five record labels that sued a 16-year-old San Antonio girl six years ago for illegally downloading a bunch of shitty music the labels vomited upon the listening public can finally exhale: the U.S. Supreme Court has decided not to hear the girl's ... More >>

Lack Of Social Safety Net Tying Many Musicians To Day Jobs

"I fantasize sometimes that my musical career would hit gold and help us escape these grim realities, but it's not something I really expect to happen." ​There are few issues in the current political climate more fraught with contention than whether or not the U.S. government will take a more ... More >>

Don't Stop Beliebering

​The subtitle to the interview (coming in the March 3 issue of Rolling Stone) reads, "How Justin Bieber became the biggest teen idol in the world," so I have to assume at some point RS reporter Vanessa Grigoriadis gets to the subject of his rise to fame (and if he's familiar with the name "Rya ... More >>

Eminem's Victory Over Label Could Have Far-Reaching Effects

Now a Recovery in more ways than one.​Eminem quietly scored a major victory in a case involving download royalties this week. The U.S. Supreme Court threw out an appeal filed by Universal Music Group, the world's largest music empire, against Eminem's former production company F.B.T. Productio ... More >>

Janet Jackson's Nipple Just Fine to View, Federal Judges Rule

DON'T LOOK!!!!!​You may not remember who played in the 2004 Super Bowl here in Houston, but you no doubt recall the earthshaking fallout from a brief glimpse of Janet Jackson's covered-up nipple at halftime. Justin Timberlake, the cad, ripped open Jackson's shirt to reveal the nip, thus doomi ... More >>

Is Texas Going to Have a Primary? Redistricting Maps Go Back to Drawing Board

Maps are hard.​The Texas primary is allegedly a little more than two months away, but some people still don't know what congressional or state-legislature district they're in, and the people running for those seats don't know who to court. The U.S. Supreme Court today rejected a redistricting ... More >>