South Texas College of Law Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 31, No. 2, Ed. 1, October, 2000 Page: 4 of 12
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Annotations and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the South Texas College of Law.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Page 4
Special
October2000
THIS COURT IS NOW IN SESSION
By SJ Davidson
Staff Writer
The Texas Supreme
Court is once again "trav-
eling the circuit." Some
Justices indicated they
liked conducting hearings
around the state. How-
ever, participants' and
observers' opinions var-
ied as to the merits of the
Justices hearing oral argu-
ments outside Austin .
Chief Justice Thomas
R. Phillips remarked at the
reception following the
oral arguments that both
the Court and the commu-
nity profited by the Jus-
tices coming out. He said,
"The Supreme Court ac-
tually used to be required
to travel around the state
to hear cases, and really
traveled quite a lot. From
1845 to 1891 the court
regularly toured the circuit
and heard cases in
Galveston and Tyler as
well as Austin. The Jus-
tices eventually got so
tired of traveling that they
asked it be written into the
new constitution that they
would only have one court,
so for over 100 years the
court has remained in
Austin."
"In 1997, the Legisla-
ture approved an amend-
ment to the state consti-
tution that allowed the
Court to travel again.
Under the theory that this
is an educational process,
we chose to first visit the
1 a w
schools.
And our
Houston
stop fin-
ishes that
goal. We
will prob-
ably now
go to the
universities
and col-
leges.",
Phillips
said.
Chief
Justice
Phillips
continued,
"It really has been a learn-
ing experience for us as
Justices, as well as for the
students and others in the
public. Some of the Jus-
tices had been involved
in the education process
already with some of them
teaching classes and vis-
iting lawschools. It is
very encouraging to see
the next generation of law
students here today, and
it is a very exciting time
to be a lawyer. Not only
is it possibly the most re-
munerative time to be a
lawyer, but the new prob-
lems stemming from the
technical and bio-techni-
cal arenas will present is-
Students had a learning experience by watching the Supreme
Court's oral arguments all day on October 2nd.
Photo by Brenda Baylet-Salinaas
sues that have never been
seen before. Both the ju-
dicial and lawyering pro-
cesses will be greatly af-
fected."
Justice Greg Abbott
said, "I like the traveling
a lot for two reasons.
First, it is vitally impor-
tant for the public to see
and understand their high-
est court and to see how
it works. Second, we Jus-
tices personally like to get
out and get a feel for how
the laws and rules are
working. It's educational
for us to be in the commu-
nities we go to." Upon
hearing that approximately
600 students and other citi-
z e n s
had
heard
the oral
argu-
ments
a t
STCL,
Abbott
r e -
marked,
"This
demon-
strates
t h e
public
educa-
I tion as-
p e c t
right there. Not too many
of those 600 would have
seen the Supreme Court at
work if we were not here
today."
Business executive Ri-
chard Hotze, one of the
original plaintiffs in Brown
and the City of Houston
v. Todd, the case heard in
the first set of oral argu-
ments said, "It was a swell
idea to have the arguments
V IT
at STCL in Houston, es-
pecially for our case.
None of the parties had
to travel. It seems most
effective to have law af-
fecting our community
made in our community."
Attorney Brian P.
Heinrich said that STCL
handled the entire pro-
cess real well. "I had no
problems. This experi-
ence was enjoyable.
However, I am a little dis-
appointed my first argu-
ment to the state's high-
est court was not in the
capital city."
Not all of the mem-
bers of the bar who had
business in front of the
court on October 2 were
altogether pleased with
the fact they had to make
their appearance in Hous-
ton. Attorney Coleman
Young, Heinrich's co-
counsel, said, "It's been
a long road to get here.
We've been working on
this case for 4 or 5 years
now without pay. I would
have liked my first ap-
pearance before the Su-
preme Court to be in
Austin. There is some-
thing special about being
in the Supreme Court
See COURT, pg.5
Shop
Eat
Enjoy
Go Italian... Basil's & Roman Delight
Go Mexican... Ninfa's 8c Ninfa's Express
Go ... Dcwro Noodles fie Mancho Wok
Go American... Wall Sweet Odi 8c Chick-Fil-A
Go Cajm... Maori 6c Cajtm Simon's
Whatever you do... Go to The Park Shops!
Hie Park Shops • 713-759-1442 • 1200 McKmney
actou from the George R. Broum Convention Center
Shop 10am - 7pm on weekdays U Saturday 10am - 5pm
Today* sVision
910 Travis, Suite 175 Bank One Center
Houston, Texas 77002
(713) 659-4911
"The One to See"
10% OFF
With Any Student ID
♦Contact Lenses*
♦Designer Frames*
♦Ocular Allergies*
*Eye Examinaton*
*Lasik Consultation*
$99 Daily Wear
Contact Lens Package
includes:
Eye Exam, Contact Lens Evaluation,
Follow Up, Care Package,
1 pair Daily Wear Spherical Contac Lenses
some restrictions apply
— —- — — —— —— —- — — _ _ — ... _ _ _ _ _ —J
Dr. James Kong - Therapeutic Optometrist
Dr. Marilyn Chow - Therapeutic Optometrist
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Palmer, Sean. South Texas College of Law Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 31, No. 2, Ed. 1, October, 2000, newspaper, October 2000; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth144542/m1/4/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting South Texas College of Law.