Vol 33, Issue 26 Print Issue

Left to right, Thomas Saenz, President and General Counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and U.S. Reps. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) participate in a press conference held by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., December 8, 2015. This morning the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the Evenwel v. Abbott case, on whether voting districts should continue to be drawn by using census population data or whether the system should be changed to count only citizens eligible to vote. (photo by Allison Shelley for The Texas Tribune)
Enlarge Allison Shelley for The Texas Tribune
Left to right, Thomas Saenz, President and General Counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and U.S. Reps. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) participate in a press conference held by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., December 8, 2015. This morning the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the Evenwel v. Abbott case, on whether voting districts should continue to be drawn by using census population data or whether the system should be changed to count only citizens eligible to vote. (photo by Allison Shelley for The Texas Tribune)

Joaquin Castro Receives Spot on House Intelligence Panel

Also, Ted Cruz announces an office shuffle widely seen as a setup to advance his future presidential aspirations.

Quotes of the Week

Yes, I’m the other senator from Arizona — the one who didn’t get captured — and I want to talk to you about statements like that.

Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, who, in a closed door meeting between Senate Republicans and Donald Trump, called out the presumptive presidential nominee for his remarks last year about John McCain

Mr. Trump asked Sen. Cruz to speak at the Republican Convention, and Sen. Cruz said he would be happy to do so.

Ted Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier on the extending of an invitation to Cruz to speak at the Republican National Convention even as Cruz withholds an endorsement of Trump

We are a majority-minority state and I think we do have an important obligation to provide educational opportunities to everyone in the state.

Greg Fenves, president of the University of Texas at Austin, to the Tribune on the goals of the institution after the Supreme Court ruling in Fisher v. University of Texas

To put it in terms these professors should understand, the clinical trials are over, and campus carry has been shown to pose little risk to public safety.

Antonia Okafor, southwest regional director for Students for Concealed Carry, dismissing a claim made by three UT-Austin professors that Texas' campus carry law is "dangerously experimental"

This is a two-party dinosaur. We think we're going to be the comet in this equation.

Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson on the role that he envisions for his party this presidential election

The Week in the Rearview Mirror

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz met with presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump and Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus in Washington on Thursday, according to multiple reports.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is calling a lawsuit filed by three University of Texas at Austin professors in an effort to block the state's new campus carry law "baseless" and said he plans to "vigorously defend it."

In a little-noticed effort to regulate abortion providers, Texas health officials have quietly proposed rules that would require abortion providers to cremate or bury all fetal remains.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday asked a federal judge in Wichita Falls to put a nationwide halt on the Obama Administration’s directive instructing school districts across the country not to discriminate against transgender students.

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has thrown out their greatest legislative victory — the House Bill 2 abortion restrictions — Texas abortion opponents are trying to decide what comes next.

Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin has been a financial sponsor of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.

Political People and their Moves

Gov. Greg Abbott named Wesley Lloyd of Waco, an attorney at Freeman Mills PC, to serve on the Brazos River Authority Board of Directors until Feb. 1, 2017.

Abbott appointed Anthony “Tony” Jaso of San Antonio to serve as presiding officer of the Texas Board of Medical Radiologic Technology, which regulates the practice. Jaso, senior vice president of Estrada Hinojosa & Company, was selected to serve on the board until Feb. 1, 2021. Abbott also named eight others to terms on the body: Nicholas Beckmann of Houston and Scott Morren of Anton to serve until Feb. 1, 2021; Faraz Khan of Houston, Regan Landreth of Georgetown and Carol Waddell of West until Feb. 1, 2019; and Joe Chow of Dallas, Jennifer Flanagan of Fort Worth and Shannon Lutz of Cypress until Feb. 1, 2017.

State Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, rolled out this week a list of endorsements from a couple of Houston congressmen and eight Houston-area state legislators who are backing her candidacy for the state Senate seat being vacated by Rodney Ellis. The endorsers are: U.S. Reps. Al Green and Gene Green; and state Reps. Alma Allen, Garnet Coleman, Harold Dutton Jr., Jessica Farrar, Ana Hernandez, Ron Reynolds, Hubert Vo, Armando Walle and Gene Wu.