04 June 2018 :

The Texas Supreme Court has let stand a lower court ruling requiring the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to disclose the identity of the pharmacy that supplied it with execution drugs prior to 2015. The court ruled without comment Friday, backing a 2017 decision from the Austin-based 3rd Court of Appeals that found exemptions to the state's open records law cannot hide the pharmacy's identity. The decision Friday is expected to only identify the supplier Texas used in 2 2014 executions. The ruling will have a limited effect because the Texas Legislature changed state law in 2015 to keep secret the names of pharmacies providing the state execution drugs. Gov. Greg Abbott signed a measure into law the next year allowing the state to keep future supplier records secret. Republicans hold all seats on the Texas Supreme Court and issued no comment while keeping in place a lower ruling to reveal the supplier identity. Attorney Maurie Levin sought the supplier name in 2014 on behalf of a death-row inmate. She called the decision a victory for transparency.