The Texas Senate is considering legislation that would make it a misdemeanor offense to release confidential information of a state court’s deliberations without permission. The proposal focuses on electronic and oral judicial work product that is not public, such as drafts of opinions and statements made in a closed session or in judicial chambers. "If you work for a court as a law clerk or staff attorney, you should very well know that these draft opinions are not meant for public circulation,” said the firm’s Nathaniel Plemons in a Law360 article on the bill. He noted that, if passed, the new law is unlikely to have a substantive impact beyond potentially making it harder for a district attorney to decline to prosecute someone for leaking court information. The complete article is available here.