Wallace Hall reminds Appeals Court that the Clock is Ticking

"He who covers his sins will not prosper,
But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy."
Proverbs 28:13

Good for Wallace:

A University of Texas System regent is worried that time might run out on his lawsuit seeking access to confidential student records from an investigation of favoritism in admissions at the Austin flagship.

....

Hall first asked the 3rd Court for “expedited consideration” of his case in January, asserting that time is running out to resolve the litigation, including any appeal to the state Supreme Court, while he is still a regent. McRaven did not oppose that request. In papers filed May 10 with the 3rd Court, Knight reminded the judges that the clock is ticking.

“So the last thing Hall wants is for his oral-argument request to delay the court’s decision,” Knight wrote. If that pending request will delay the case and the 3rd Court agrees with McRaven that oral argument is unnecessary, then Hall would forgo such argument, he added. Both sides have already filed court papers staking out their positions.

On Thursday, the court denied the request for oral argument. It has no deadline to rule in the case.

State Attorney General Ken Paxton has sided with Hall, issuing a nonbinding opinion in June that said the UT System should turn over the records to the regent. Paxton also filed a friend-of-the-court brief in March urging the 3rd Court to rule in Hall’s favor.

Although the UT board voted in April 2015 to grant Hall access to the records, McRaven said he could not turn over confidential student information, and the board sided with him in July.

McRaven’s lawyers contend that Hall’s demands do not meet the federal standard of “legitimate educational interest” to warrant granting him access to private student files underlying the admissions investigation.

Read the whole thing here.