Texas is opening a fossil fuel-backed business court stacked with judges who’ve represented oil and gas companies.
By Katya Schwenk, The Lever
On Sept. 1, Texas is slated to open its new business courts, a brand-new legal system backed by Big Oil — and several of the court’s main judges have in the past represented fossil fuel companies as lawyers, The Lever has found.
The judges were hand-picked over the last two months by Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, a major recipient of oil industry cash — and many can be quickly replaced if they hand down decisions he opposes, a judicial design that he championed.

The courts consist of 11 regional business courts and a new statewide court of appeals to hear appellate litigation, which are expected to have immediate impacts on environmental cases in the state. As Public Health Watch, an independent investigative news organization, reported last month, a suite of cases involving state environmental authorities will now be transferred from a generally liberal appeals court to the state’s new Fifteenth Court of Appeals, created to oversee the business courts.
There, these cases will be decided by a panel of conservative judges historically friendly to industry — particularly oil and gas interests, a powerful force in Texas.
Recent Posts
Can Nonviolent Struggle Defeat a Dictator? This Database Emphatically Says Yes
October 26, 2025
Take Action Now The Global Nonviolent Action Database details some 40 cases of mass movements overcoming tyrants through strategic nonviolent…
CNBC Host Doesn’t Know How to Fix Runaway Healthcare Costs. Ro Khanna Says: Medicare for All
October 25, 2025
Take Action Now As health insurance companies rake in billions in profits, the California Democrat argues that a single-payer system would help US…
Labor, Community Groups Rally Against Trump’s Threats Of An ICE Invasion
October 24, 2025
Take Action Now White House backs off—for the moment—but the community is organized and readyBy JJ Lansing, 48hills Labor leaders and community…
The Data Brokers Fueling ICE’s Deportation Machine—And The Union Shareholders Fighting Back
October 23, 2025
Take Action Now “As investors, we are thinking about this as a risk to our investments, but also as a social and ethical issue.”By Maurizio…




