State of Minnesota v. Greg Abbott, Governor · S.D. Tex. No. 2:26-cv-00906 · Uniform Criminal Extradition Act
Sunday Edition · August 17 – August 23, 2026 · 8 days to FY 2027
Aug 26 Deadline
Cross-border criminal process dominated a late-August week as Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued Governor Greg Abbott in federal court, seeking to compel Texas to extradite ICE agent Christian Castro for trial on four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime. Castro has been held in Cameron County since May 29, but Abbott has not signed the governor's rendition warrant Walz requested — and under Texas law, a fugitive cannot be detained more than 90 days awaiting extradition.
The Uniform Criminal Extradition Act — adopted in Texas as Chapter 51 of the Code of Criminal Procedure — creates a mandatory obligation: when one governor requisitions a fugitive, the asylum state governor must issue a rendition warrant directing the sheriff to deliver the prisoner. Minnesota alleges Abbott's refusal is unconstitutional and inconsistent with three other extraditions Abbott signed for Minnesota defendants since Castro's arrest.
Castro, an ICE agent, allegedly fired at an occupied Minneapolis residence during Operation Metro Surge; a bullet struck and injured a person inside.
Texas Rangers arrested Castro; Cameron County detained him pending extradition. Governor Walz sent Abbott a requisition warrant four days later.
Attorney General Ellison demanded Abbott sign the rendition warrant by 5:00 p.m. Aug 17 or face suit.
Minnesota filed in the Southern District of Texas, seeking declaratory, injunctive, and mandamus relief against Abbott and Cameron County Sheriff Manuel Trevino.
90-day Texas detention limit expires unless a federal court orders Castro held. U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez set a TRO hearing for Aug 25.
Attorney General Ken Paxton notified 116 additional Texas municipalities they may not adopt property tax rates above the no-new-revenue rate after failing to meet audit deadlines under S.B. 1851. The enforcement wave — building on 130+ cities flagged in May — affects Pasadena, Brazoria, Jones Creek, Bonney, and dozens of others across the state.
At a Texas Public Policy Foundation news conference, Governor Abbott announced he will seek legislation banning public school districts from employing teachers on H-1B visas and forbidding schools from accepting gifts or partnerships with foreign governments. Abbott said roughly 1,100 H-1B visa holders work at Texas colleges and universities under a January state-agency hiring freeze — and suggested the ban could extend to higher education.
School districts may hire H-1B visa holders for specialized roles including foreign-language instruction, subject to federal visa caps and labor certification requirements.
Abbott's proposal would bar all public K-12 employment of H-1B holders and prohibit foreign-government gifts or partnerships — potentially making Texas the first state with a classroom H-1B ban.
One week after HHSC appealed Judge Ezra's July injunction, the federal court refused to pause benchmark negotiations while the Fifth Circuit reviews the 21-day competency restoration mandate.
HHSC argued participating in benchmark scheduling while appealing would force "irreversible work" and "unrecoverable funds" on a remedy the Fifth Circuit may overturn. More than 1,600 defendants remained on the forensic waitlist as of June.
The court denied the stay, holding HHSC retains discretion over how to comply and is merely being asked to "lay out a schedule" for interim benchmarks. The 45-day confer window from the July 9 injunction expired Aug 23.
The Court of Criminal Appeals reversed Ector County Judge John Shrode's finding that Michael Dean "Spider" Gonzales is intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for execution under Atkins v. Virginia. Gonzales was convicted of fatally stabbing an elderly couple during a 1995 burglary; his March 2022 execution was stayed for the first-time intellectual-disability claim.
The CCA held a rational factfinder could "quite reasonably reject" Gonzales's disability claim and that prosecutors did not withhold exculpatory evidence. The execution stay is lifted; new execution dates require separate scheduling.
Three Houston-area mothers pressed their state-law challenge to Texas Education Code § 1.0041 at a preliminary injunction hearing in the 165th District Court — the first suit to rely on TRFRA rather than the federal First Amendment after the Fifth Circuit upheld S.B. 10. Judge Bruce Bain denied a temporary restraining order Aug 7; the Aug 17 hearing addressed whether to block classroom displays while litigation proceeds. Displays remain in effect pending the court's ruling.
The Public Utility Commission granted all three good-cause exceptions ERCOT requested after Governor Abbott's Aug 3 data-center audit directive — extending Batch Zero classification to Aug 31, allowing conditional QSA participation, and providing a 24-day cure period for dynamic data deficiencies. ERCOT expects verification complete by Dec 10; the April 9, 2027 study deadline will not be met.
Jury punitive award
After § 41.008 cap
The Third Court unanimously slashed Alex Jones's punitive damages in the Sandy Hook defamation case, holding the $750,000-per-plaintiff cap under Chapter 41 applied and that plaintiffs failed to show harassment rising to a level permitting excess damages. More than $4.1 million in compensatory damages remain intact; a separate $1.25 billion Connecticut judgment is unaffected.
The State was not required to prove the precise moment of fetal death with absolute certainty. It was enough that the prenatal and autopsy evidence permitted a rational jury to find that the unborn child was alive before the shooting and that the same gunshot killing of the mother caused the child's death during the same criminal transaction.
Fifth Court of Appeals · Chiles v. State · No. 05-25-00462-CR · Aug 18, 2026
Cities on Paxton's Aug 17 list cannot exceed the no-new-revenue rate until audits are filed. Counsel should verify S.B. 1851 compliance before September budget adoptions.
Districts should monitor Roth for a preliminary injunction ruling. Abbott's H-1B proposal signals 90th Session immigration legislation affecting foreign-language staffing.
Gonzales reinforces the CCA's clear-and-convincing Atkins standard. Competency restoration benchmarks must proceed despite HHSC's Fifth Circuit appeal.
In re I.L.Y. affirms subsection (E) endangerment sufficiency with collateral-consequence review. In re D.L.B. bars nunc pro tunc corrections of judicial error after plenary power expires.
Batch Zero developers have until Aug 31 to cure documentation. Energization remains paused pending ERCOT's verification audit through December.
After plenary power expired, a Val Verde County trial court used a judgment nunc pro tunc to delete a "solely responsible" sentence from a February 2024 SAPCR order. The Fourth Court vacated the nunc pro tunc and reinstated the original judgment.
Correcting a clerical discrepancy between the judgment rendered and the judgment entered of record when an earlier rendition is documented.
The Dallas Court dismissed the State's interlocutory appeal of a suppression order for lack of jurisdiction — the elected prosecutor merely quoted Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 44.01(a)(5) without expressly certifying the appeal was not for delay and that the suppressed evidence was of substantial importance.
The House Committee on State Affairs heard testimony on data-center expansion and 765-kV transmission line backlash — following Lt. Gov. Patrick's call to scrap a major transmission project and Governor Abbott's grid-connection pause. ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas told lawmakers the audit process should conclude around December.
Sales tax exemption for data centers — Comptroller estimates exceeded $1 billion in first-year value for recent entrants.
Special session call to rework transmission approval timelines shortened by 2023 legislation.
Verification audit targeting Dec 10 filing; Batch Zero study deadline beyond April 9, 2027.
Fair and Just Prosecution and the Law Enforcement Action Partnership — joined by 29 current and former prosecutors and law enforcement officials — filed an amicus brief urging the CCA to permit additional DNA testing and fully review new evidence in Rodney Reed's capital case before any execution proceeds.
Prosecutorial duty. Amici argue credible innocence claims require meaningful judicial review even after conviction — particularly where execution is irreversible.
Post-conviction science. New DNA testing and witness testimony unavailable at trial should receive full CCA consideration under Chapter 64.
Public confidence. Amici emphasize transparency in capital adjudication as essential to maintaining trust in Texas criminal justice.
U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez ordered Governor Abbott to file a response to Minnesota's TRO application in State of Minnesota v. Abbott by Aug 24 in the Southern District of Texas.
Federal court will hear whether to bar Cameron County from releasing ICE agent Christian Castro before Minnesota can take custody — two days before the 90-day detention limit.
Unless a court orders continued detention, Texas's extradition hold on Castro expires — Minnesota warns he could flee across the border from Cameron County.
Final date for ERCOT to conditionally classify large loads under the PUC-approved good-cause extension; deficiency cure period also ends.
State fiscal year transition — municipalities face new audit cycles under S.B. 1851; supplemental appropriations may address competency beds and grid infrastructure.
Friday opinion release day during the court's annual term — watch txcourts.gov for new decisions as summer recess winds down.