On Wednesdays I like to see what's new from the Court of Criminal Appeals, preferably in the morning.

Other than one breakthrough long enough to see the handdown before 10:00, I still cannot access the site.

Westlaw got one of the published cases up before lunch and two more by three.

Searching with the term "March 16, 2005," I notice that several court of appeals put today's opinions up much earlier than that.

I'm not sure if they're getting too much traffic, having server problems, or if the issues are on my end, but I sure wish they'd improve the CCA site. [vent off]

I mentioned that to one of the higher ups in the CCA clerk's office yesterday. The problem is actually at the Office of Court Administration (OCA), who manages the servers for the high courts and 13 of the 14 courts of appeals.

As of 9:30 this morning, seems like all OCA sites are down. I can't see CCA, Texas Supreme Court, or 4th Court of Appeals . . .

Gee, it's kind of like when the cable goes down and you have to read books again. What a pain.

John Bradley
District Attorney
Williamson County, Texas

Sadly, the printed opinion service was more reliable, and, despite the paper usage, a more enjoyable method to read the latest news.

Kind of makes those electronic summaries look pretty good, eh?

John Bradley
District Attorney
Williamson County, Texas

The TDCAA summaries are a wonderful addition to the TDCAA lineup. Thanks John and Alan. But I guess some of us are just plain greedy or simply want the latest news at the earliest opportunity. The Texas Judiciary Online has fantastic potential and when its reliability is enhanced we should all benefit. Some refinements, such as an icon to advise when a case is published, would be helpful too.

They could lose the silly scrolling thingie on the right side. It just slows things down.

John Bradley
District Attorney
Williamson County, Texas

The lack of opinions is frustrating. However, for us appellate attorneys the inability to do case search is even more frustrating. Sometimes I don't get briefs or notification of other filings for days, sometimes up to a week afterwards. It was convenient to check on my open appeals for status - like has the appellant's brief been filed, has a PDR been filed, etc.

It appears that the service is back in action. I had access to the CCA opinions at 9:00 am yesterday and received email notification in the afternoon. I have also received emails with opinions from some COAs.

Before the interruption in service, did anyone else sign up for all the courts and not receive notification from a number of them?

From which courts have you been receiving casemail notices, and from which courts have you not been receiving notices?

In the last few days, I have heard from the CCA, 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 9th, 11th, 13th, and 14th. Not a word from the others.

Before the interruption, I never had a single email with the opinions from the 2nd COA and the 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th, and 12th emails had stopped arriving long ago too.

John,

Today I forwarded the information regarding your problems with receiving casemail opinions to the Office of Court Administration. I listed those courts from which you are receiving casemail, as well as those courts from which you are not receiving casemail.

As we all know, casemail has not been flawless in it's implementation. However, I have always found OCA responsive to notices about problems. I hope OCA will be able to remedy these current problems.

OCA's new executive director is Carl Reynolds, former GC of TDCJ. He heard alot about the various website issues even before he took the job, so I hope it will all get fixed soon.

Andy,

Thanks for your interest. In fact, I heard from the OCA today--Daniel Vu called--and he is looking into the issue.