Above: SMU First Amendment Clinic students, from left, Alex Guerrero, Andrew Killian and Emma Lynch represent The Marshall Project in requesting disclosure of information in Ogg v. Paxton.

A team of students in the First Amendment Clinic at the SMU Dedman School of Law were “in” district court in Texas on April 8 for a summary judgment hearing in Ogg v. Paxton. 

The Clinic represents The Marshall Project in requesting disclosure of information contained in emails called “The Informal” generated by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. The Texas Attorney General’s Office ruled that the information should be disclosed, and the District Attorney filed a lawsuit to try to stop the release of the information. The Marshall Project intervened.

The 419th Judicial District Court of Travis County, with the Honorable Catherine Mauzy presiding, heard approximately 50 minutes of argument on all parties’ motions for summary judgment and on The Marshall Project’s evidentiary objections. Andrew Killian, a third-year student in the First Amendment Clinic, argued the evidentiary objections.

The Court took the case under advisement.