Days after Texas voters replaced all three Republican justices on the 15th Court of Appeals, the court canceled oral arguments in four cases, including the hemp industry's challenge to state rules curbing sales of hemp-derived THC products. The cases will be reset for the three incoming Democratic justices, and a Travis County judge's April block on the contested licensing rules stays in place.
🇺🇸 15th Court of Appeals, Austin, Travis County, Texas · Texas, United States
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Days after voters replaced all three Republican justices on the Texas 15th Court
of Appeals, the court canceled oral arguments in four cases and told lawyers the
cases would be reset at a later date.[1]One of the four is the hemp
industry’s challenge to Texas Department of State Health Services rules limiting
the sale of hemp-derived products containing THC.[1]The challenge will go to
three Democrats who take office in early January.[2]
The court was due to hear oral arguments in the hemp case on December 8 and
canceled its December 8 and 9 arguments in all four cases.[1]Justice Scott
Field told Bloomberg Law the court could not finish opinions on cases argued
before the end of the year, so it did not want to waste the lawyers’ time on
arguments the new court might want to repeat.[1]The outgoing justices still
have 39 cases awaiting opinions after oral or written arguments.[1]
The rules, which were to take effect at the end of March, included
child-resistant packaging, new labelling, testing and bookkeeping requirements
and a legal purchasing age of 21.[1]The rules raised licence fees for
manufacturers of hemp-derived THC from $258 to $10,000 per facility and retail
registrations from $155 to $5,000, and industry leaders said the fees amounted
to a ban that would force businesses to close.[1]The other canceled cases,
all non-cannabis, concern a homeless shelter in South Austin and tax disputes
over about $3 million and $2.58 million.[2]
The reports give no day for when the court canceled the arguments; 6 November 2026, the Texas Tribune's publication date in Central time (7 November UTC), stands in for the incident date.
The rescheduled hearing date is not known, only that the cases will be reset at a later date.
The three incoming Democratic justices had not taken office when the arguments were canceled; the accounts do not name them.
The Texas Informer page carries no byline and reproduces the Tribune account almost verbatim, so it is not independent reporting.
The Texas Lawbook's own report on the cancellation is paywalled after its opening paragraphs and was not used for facts.
No filing, party list or case number for the hemp industry's suit is given in the opened accounts.
The Texas Tribune links the hemp case to a separate Nov. 5, 2026 story on the election and THC policy; that context belongs to a different report and is not covered here.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in The Texas Informer: A Travis County district judge had temporarily blocked the department's rules on April 10 while the hemp industry's lawsuit played out in court.
Alabama basketball guard Aden Holloway, arrested in March 2026 for possession of marijuana and failure to affix a tax stamp, had his first-degree marijuana charge dismissed in September after completing a court second-chance program. Alabama reinstated him on 6 October and, after a team-imposed five-game suspension, he returned to the court on 9 November.
A federal grand jury indicted six men over a marijuana distribution conspiracy across South Carolina's Lowcountry, with two accused of conspiring to distribute 1,000 kilograms or more. Four of the defendants face a maximum sentence of life in prison; no trial date or custodial status was reported.
A federal judge in Illinois refused to throw out the civil racketeering lawsuit Mike Tyson and Ric Flair filed over their cannabis brands, letting the case proceed against five defendants tied to Carma and Tyson 2.0. The plaintiffs say more than $1 million was diverted from the company and want tens of millions of dollars in damages.
Adam King, who runs the Dapper Canna hemp dispensary in Fountain Square, faces two felony counts of dealing marijuana in Hancock County after court records said hundreds of marijuana plants were seized from a farm. He spent nearly a week in jail before release on bond pending trial and says he was growing legal hemp under an Indiana Seed Commissioner licence.
