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March 21, 2018
The Clinic drafted a memo for a local government exploring the use of riparian corridors to prevent flooding and protect water quality. Students reviewed riparian corridor ordinances in cities across the country, identified best practices, and researched potential legal claims against cities that have created such corridors. -
March 21, 2018
Challenging highway construction through Corpus Christi neighborhood
The Clinic co-counseled with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid on a Civil Rights Act Title VI complaint challenging the construction of a new highway through a low-income neighborhood already burdened with pollution sources. Clinic student conducted legal research and drafted the complaint. A settlement was reached that provides a voluntary relocation program for up to 450 […] -
March 21, 2018
Improving the enforceability of water conservation requirements
Surface water in Texas is allocated to users through a permit system. As part of obtaining a permit, Texas wholesale water providers are required to submit a water conservation plan and the means for implementing and enforcing that plan. Wholesale providers must also ensure that their contracts with customers require those customers to develop and […] -
March 21, 2018
Enforcing Clean Water Act prohibition on the filing of wetlands without a permit
The Clinic co-counseled with a local law firm to represent Galveston Baykeeper in its challenge to the filling of wetlands by a Houston area developer without a permit. Clinic students sent the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers a request for a jurisdictional determination, drafted a Clean Water Act notice of intent to sue, and provided […] -
February 16, 2018
Promoting the Right to Health of Persons living with HIV/AIDS in Guatemala
In partnership with the Dell Medical School, the Clinic prepared an amicus brief to present to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Case 12.484, Cuscul Pivaral et al., with regard to Guatemala: http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/media_center/PReleases/2016/191.asp. The case involves the State’s international responsibility for violating various rights established in the American Convention, to the detriment of 49 […] -
January 23, 2018
The Clinic evaluated the Texas Bar Rules of Disciplinary Procedure in light of what guidance they provide to attorneys dealing with international human rights issues. In particular, the Clinic compared and contrasted the Texas Bar Association’s rules with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. During fall 2017, the Clinic prepared a […] -
November 6, 2017
Human rights abuses and state complicity in Coahuila, Mexico
The Human Rights Clinic has compiled a report based on analyzed witness testimonies from three U.S. federal trials. Between 2013 and 2016, Zeta members were put on trial in Austin, San Antonio, and Del Rio for crimes of homicide, conspiracy to import drugs and weapons, and money laundering. The report, titled “‘Control…Over the Entire State […] -
September 22, 2017
The Clinic is co-counseling with Deitz, Lawrence and McGiverin to represent the adult children of Robert Mosley, who died of internal bleeding after a hip fracture suffered while in custody at Bexar County Jail. Plaintiffs bring a claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act in federal court in San Antonio. The lawsuit alleges that Mosley, […] -
April 24, 2017
Human rights abuses in the context of the imposition of the death penalty in Texas
The Clinic researched the capital punishment system in Texas, publishing a report detailing the chronic overuse of solitary confinement on Texas’ death rows by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDJC). The report, titled “Designed to Break You: Human Rights Violations on Texas’ Death Rows,” details how TDCJ’s practice of holding prisoners in mandatory solitary […]
