Supreme Court of Texas
Read beyond
the outcome.
An opinion is a chain of reasoning. Start with the procedural posture, identify the question the Court answered, and follow the authority it used.
Case study 01 / Jurisdictional discovery
When the contract’s label
doesn’t end the inquiry.
4 Families of Hobby, LLC v. City of Houston
No. 24-0796 · January 9, 2026 · Per curiam
Follow a dispute over airport concessions, the contract provisions at issue, and the Court’s decision to remand for jurisdictional discovery.
Read the case study →Go to the source
The Court’s own publications.
Browse official orders and opinions by release date. The case study here is a selected reading, not a live feed or a complete case-law database.
Browse official orders & opinions About the Supreme Court Rules for appellate proceedings →A method for close reading
Four things to take from an opinion.
01 / Posture
What is before the Court?
Note the order under review, the parties seeking relief, and the stage of the dispute. A jurisdictional decision and a trial on the merits answer different questions.
02 / Issue
What question must be resolved?
Write the question in one sentence. Compare it with the parties’ arguments and the issue the Court actually reaches.
03 / Reasoning
How does the Court get there?
Track the text, precedent, and record facts used in the analysis. Keep a concurrence or dissent distinct from the Court’s opinion.
04 / Disposition
What happens next?
Read the final paragraph. Record the precise relief granted and which questions remain for another proceeding.