Texas has an unusual appeals process for judicial cases. District courts, where trials on matters of fact are held, are separated into different types according to the kind of cases they hear. You may notice when you vote in county elections, there are civil courts, criminal courts, probate courts, family courts, etc. All these cases are appealed to a court that has jurisdiction in all of those areas. The First and Fourteenth Courts of Appeals, which meet in Houston, hear all kinds of criminal and civil cases. After that, however, the process splits again. Criminal cases go to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Civil cases go to the Texas Supreme Court. Go the the Texas Supreme Court website: Use the case search feature to find a case called , decided on May 3, 2019. In this case, a state agency investigated a nurse, Patricia Mosley, for allegedly neglecting a disabled patient, and recommended she be added to the departments Employee Misconduct Registry, a blacklist that would have effectively ended her career. She requested an appeal of the departments decision, following the process the agency to
ld her to follow in a letter it sent her. As it turned out, however, the departments letter gave her the wrong procedure to follow, and following the departments instructions she didnt file the required motion for rehearing and her appeal was dismissed. The states position was, basically, that she should have known better than to follow the departments own instructions. The question before the Texas Supreme Court: Did the governments actions violate Mosleys right to due course of the law of the land under the Texas Constitution? Write a 2 5 page essay explaining the facts of the case and how the court ruled. What did Justice Brown say about the courts reasoning in his majority opinion? What is a concurring opinion, and what did Justice Blacklock say in his? [Note: How cool is it that the Supreme Court cited the movie as a scholarly source of judicial reasoning ( )?] Submit in Word. Cite your sources. Forbes Magazine take a look at the case: Texas Appellate Watch has a summary: The Institute for Justice has a summary: Legendary Houston law firm Baker Botts handled the case for the petitioner: