Good morning!

Looks like the dog days of summer may be coming to an end, but advocates for inmates are ramping up a campaign to put A/C in more Texas prisons. Today's One Click Survey asks for your thoughts on that.

This is the Texas Minute for Monday. August 21, 2023.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Dan Patrick’s Choice For Impeachment Counsel Quickly Resigns After ‘Close Relationship’ With House Prosecutors Revealed

• Late Friday afternoon, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced he had appointed Marc Brown to serve as his legal counsel during the impeachment trial of Ken Paxton. The appointment was short-lived. The next day, after Texas Scorecard's Brandon Waltens reported on Brown's "close relationship" with Paxton opponents, the former judge tendered his resignation.
         
• Brown previously served as a justice on the 14th Court of Appeals and as a judge in the 180th District Court in Harris County.
      
• Sources in Harris County's legal community said a close relationship existed between Brown and the House team seeking to remove Paxton from office. Campaign finance records seemed to bear that out. Among Brown's financial supporters was the husband of one of the investigators secretly hired by the House and Rusty Hardin, one of the attorneys brought on by the House as a prosecutor.
            
• Brown, a Republican, also received support from Democrat State Rep. Ann Johnson of Houston, who sits on the House General Investigating Committee and is among those leading the impeachment against Paxton.
       
• In his resignation, Brown himself noted his financial contributions to liberal Republican Eva Guzman. She is the former Supreme Court Justice whose A.G. campaign issued many of the talking points used against Paxton by the Democrat-led impeachment effort.
      
• The lieutenant governor's office has not responded to questions about the lack of due diligence in vetting Brown's apparent conflicts of interest in the Paxton case.

Decision Awaited in Trial Challenging Texas’ Gender Mutilation Ban

• No decision has been announced yet in a lawsuit seeking to block the implementation of Texas' new law that bans the use of cross-sex hormones and gender mutilation surgeries on children. Emily Medeiros has the story.
     

• The ACLU argued that Texas’ new law would prevent “trans youth” from receiving “life-saving care.”

     
• The state, meanwhile, argued that putting children on cross-sex hormones can be detrimental to their health, including risks of fertility loss and a reduction of bone density. Experts explained that children do not have the cognitive ability to understand the long-term risks posed by these drugs and procedures.
       
• Republican State Sen. Bryan Hughes of Mineola, who co-authored the legislation, said he is confident the judge will rule in favor of the ban taking effect.

Race ‘Not a Factor’ in Galveston County Maps

• Race was not a factor in redrawing Galveston County’s commissioners' court precincts in 2021, according to testimony from the professional demographer who drew the new district maps for the county. Erin Anderson reports the ongoing trial could have consequences for how other Texas jurisdictions draw their own district lines. 
      
• The case against Galveston County focuses on a precinct currently held by a black Democrat incumbent, which he says he can no longer win in the GOP-dominated area. Plaintiffs in three consolidated cases claim the county’s redistricting violates the Voting Rights Act.
       
• A redistricting expert hired by the county to draw precinct lines based on the 2020 census testified in federal court that at no time was he asked to consider race as a factor. In fact, the county's legal advisor testified that race was explicitly excluded from consideration.

Conroe ISD Teacher to School Board: ‘Don’t Make Me Choose Bullets’

• A teacher at Conroe ISD is under fire for what many have described as threatening language during a recent school board meeting. Brandon Waltens has the details.
      
• At a school board meeting earlier this summer, a discussion was held about a poster that a trustee described as pushing a leftist ideology within the district. 
     
• In response, Theresa Neman—an English teacher at Oak Ridge High School—attended the next board meeting to speak in favor of the poster.
      
• “If I am not professional enough to choose my posters and I am not professional enough to choose my books, please do not make me professional enough to choose who lives and dies. If I can’t choose posters and I can’t choose books, then don’t make me choose bullets,” said Neman.

Trustee Flees Meeting Ahead of Resignation Vote

• Round Rock Independent School District has faced multiple scandals in the past few years due to its treatment of parents and taxpayers. Last week, a federal judge ruled that a lawsuit can move forward against RRISD officials for alleged violations of First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Sydnie Henry has more details.

     
• When the RRISD board met, Trustee Mary Bone put forward a motion calling for the resignation of Amy Weir, a trustee whose actions were at the center of the federal lawsuit.
     
• Weir fled the meeting as Bone brought her motion, which failed by a vote of four to two.
       
• In September 2021, two fathers attended a school board meeting to speak against a proposed tax hike and were arrested at the behest of the trustees. The men filed suit, and RRISD lawyers tried unsuccessfully to have the case dismissed. Their lawsuit will now proceed to discovery and trial.

Today In History

On August 21, 1858, the first of seven debates on slavery was held in Ottawa, Illinois, between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas.

ONE CLICK SURVEY

Advocates for convicted felons have pointed out this summer that some Texas prisons do not have air conditioning. Should the Legislature address this?

Once you’ve clicked an answer, reply to this email with any thoughts you’d like to share!