As expected, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton turned to the Texas Supreme Court on July 15 to appeal a ruling issued earlier in the month by a state judge that dismissed his effort to shut down Annunciation House in El Paso, Texas, a Catholic nonprofit serving migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The U.S. Supreme Court July 16 granted a stay of execution for a Catholic inmate in Texas, Ruben Gutierrez, just 20 minutes before he was to receive a lethal injection.

Religious and political leaders alike were quick to condemn the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on July 13 at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and many used the moment to urge the nation to tone down some of its political rhetoric and seek unity.

Arkansas election officials rejected a petition to place an abortion access measure on the November ballot, saying the proposal’s supporters failed to submit required statements about paid signature gatherers.

When a California District Court vacated the conviction and death sentence of Larry Roberts on July 1, he became the 200th exonerated death-row inmate in the U.S. since 1973.

Indiana’s bishops announced their disapproval of the state’s plans to resume state executions after a 15-year pause and called for legislators to repeal the use of the death penalty in Indiana.

Hurricane Beryl’s strong winds and heavy rains knocked out power to about three million homes and businesses on July 8, and also impacted the offices of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, the agency ready to help in disaster recovery.

A Republican Party platform, overwhelmingly approved by a committee on July 8, has softened the party’s language on abortion for the first time in more than four decades.