Texas Scorecard by Robert Montoya April 4, 2025
The news comes after the exposure of a state taxpayer-funded open borders group.As caseloads crater, a spokesperson announced that Texas Supreme Court Justice Jimmy Blacklock will be ending the state-run program providing illegal aliens with defense attorneys.
In August 2021, five months into Operation Lone Star, the Texas Supreme Court issued an emergency order providing defense attorneys for illegal aliens captured as part of the state’s border security efforts if they were unable to pay for legal representation.
The court authorized the Texas Indigent Defense Commission to appoint and pay counsel through third parties. At the time, border counties, which would normally handle this, lacked sufficient attorneys and resources. In the August 2021 order, then-Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht justified this setup as necessary to protect the defendant’s constitutional right to counsel.
The court has repeatedly extended this order, but that’s coming to an end. According to a spokesperson for Blacklock, TIDC has been informed that the order will not extend past its May 1 expiration date.
“The Court’s emergency order was extended earlier this year only to provide time to plan for an orderly winding down of the Court’s involvement in this matter,” the spokesperson wrote to Texas Scorecard. “The Chief Justice does not anticipate an ongoing need for the Supreme Court’s intervention after the current order expires.”
This came after revelations about funding increases for a provider for these defense attorneys despite a corresponding dramatic drop in indigent defendants.
More:
https://texasscorecard.com/state/exclusive-state-defense-attorney-system-for-illegals-to-end-may-1/
