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Texas' 14-year fight with the federal courts over its foster care system continued with a new judge.
The case is pending before chief judge of the Southern District of Texas, Randy Crane. He is poised to preside over the high-profile case, according to PACER, the federal court's records website, on Tuesday.
Crane has been a federal judge in McAllen since he was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2002. He practiced civil litigation privately but has distinguished himself on the federal bench with criminal proceedings, with one of the largest caseloads in the country.
According to his federal biographical page, he had, at one time, one of the busiest sentencing records in the country.
He has overseen several high-profile drug and cartel-related cases, including that of Carlos Landín Martinez, one time Tamaulipas state police chief and former leader of the Gulf Cartel.
Crane takes the place of Clinton-appointee Judge Janis Jack, who was removed by the U.S. appeals court for the 5th Circuit late last year.
Jack was removed after she fined the state over its failures to promptly investigate abuse and neglect allegations at state-contracted homes for people with disabilities, including foster children.
The contempt fines on Texas Health and Human Services Commissioner Cecile Young were appealed to the 5th Circuit. The fines resulted from a three-day trial in 2023 where former foster children shared at times harrowing details of overmedication, abuse and neglect within the state’s system.
Attorneys for Texas argued the contempt fines were levied in an unconstitutional way and were further evidence of Jack’s bias against the state. They also argued they had achieved compliance with several court orders.
A three-judge panel agreed, removing Jack and nullifying significant court ordered oversight. The appeals court declined to rehear the case before the full 5th Circuit Court.
In a dissent to that decision, one judge pointed to Jack's deep experience in the case and worried if others could match her expertise in dealing with the large and at times unwieldy system, which encompasses thousands of employees, billions of dollars, tens of thousands of children and two state departments.
Plaintiffs' attorneys at the time continued to argue the state is failing disabled foster children.
TPR reported last year about a child in one of the state-contracted homes who nearly died from what appeared to be overmedication. The then-15-year-old boy known only as M.R.F. had been taken off life support at one point, with caregivers expecting his imminent death.
A report by federal court monitors exposed communications between state workers who were attempting to obscure to the boy's advocates that he hadn’t been removed from the facilities that they complained were putting him in danger.
Plaintiffs' attorneys have yet to rule out a possible appeal of the 5th Circuit's orders to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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