Branch, Texas | |
|---|---|
  Branch  Branch | |
| Coordinates: 33°06′09″N96°30′58″W / 33.10250°N 96.51611°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Texas |
| County | Collin |
| Elevation | 522 ft (159 m) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| GNIS feature ID | 2034632 [1] |
Branch is an unincorporated community in Collin County, located in the U.S. state of Texas. [1] According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 447 in 2000. It is located within the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
The area in what is known as Branch today was named for local storeowner J.T. Branch. A post office was established at Branch in 1901, but closed two years later, transferring mail delivery to nearby Clear Lake. Its population was 25 in 1960, then jumped to 447 from 1980 through 2000. [2]
Branch is located on the shores of Lavon Lake and is on Farm to Market Road 982, 11 mi (18 km) southeast of McKinney in southern Collin County. [2]
Today the community is served by the Princeton Independent School District. It is zoned for Harper Elementary School, Clark Middle School, and Princeton High School.
On June 30, 2011, a Collin County District Court Judge issued a judgment ending a legal dispute over Princeton's southern boundary. The judgment ruled against the city, finding that the tract of land in question had not been annexed and was not lawfully within the city limits. [3] The case was filed on January 12, 2010, and was titled: The State of Texas Ex Rel. Collin County, Texas vs. The City of Princeton, Texas, Case No. 401-00108-2010.
The State of Texas' Motion for Summary Judgement stated: "that Princeton administration had 'unlawfully and improperly attempted to assert jurisdiction over a tract of land which the city never annexed and which is not lawfully within the corporate city limits,' according to Collin County court records." [3] "Tract Five, the property in question, is a strip of land that runs the length of the right of way of Farm to Market Road 982 from about a half mile south of U.S. Highway 380 to its intersection with FM Road 546." [3] "The southern portion of this tract was incorporated as part of the city of Branch from August of 1971 through April of 1977." [4] "After three months in which no response of any kind was received from the city (of Princeton) regarding the matter, the (approximately 100) landowners concluded that the city (of Princeton) was ignoring (them) and decided in November (of 2006) to refer the matter to the Collin County District Attorney for possible legal action." [4] The landowners "provided all of the documentation" (to the D.A.)... [4]
"The state's quo warranto motion, filed in November 2010, claimed that Princeton was wrongfully exercising powers not authorized by any law [5] or statute and that a judgment on the case could be made without a trial and instead based solely on Princeton city records." [3] "Princeton officials first claimed the 5.5-mile strip of land as part of the city limits in 2003, but according to the state's motion, the 'contorted history of Tract Five and the City's current efforts to effectively annex by stealth began in 1971.'" [3] "In January 1971, the city enacted Ordinance No. 104, through which Princeton attempted to annex certain right-of-ways surrounding the city by a process commonly referred to as 'strip annexation.'" [3] "Princeton City Council passed a motion to annex five tracts, but in April of that year, the council passed another motion to eliminate Tract Five from the proposed annexations." [3] "Texas Legislature subsequently prohibited 'strip annexation' through procedures mandated by Chapter 43 of the Texas Local Government Code." [3] "All area maps, including one Princeton filed in 2000 with the U.S. Dept. of Justice, show that Tract Five did not belong to Princeton." [3] "Included in the state's original filing on the case in 2010 is a corporate map of Branch that was legally filed in Collin County records in March 1975, showing that Branch owns (sic) the corner of FM 982 and FM 546 and part of the same land Princeton began claiming as its own in 2003." [3] "Robert Davis, specially deputized District Attorney representing the state, said in the state's motion for summary judgment that 'in 2003, realizing that they were prohibited by law from engaging in the type of strip annexation which was accomplished by Ordinance No. 104, the City passed an ordinance which attempted to refute the fact that the fifth tract of land had been deleted from Ordinance No. 104 before final passage.' [3] "The state initially brought the motion for summary judgment before Judge Mark Rusch of the 401st Judicial District Court..., but the state and Princeton decided to let Wheless [6] rule on the case after Rusch disclosed he was a prosecutor in the Collin county District Attorney's office during a related case in 1990." [3] On February 25, 2011, Judge Mark Rusch signed the Administrative Order of Assignment, which stated, "...it is my opinion that the most efficient management of this case necessitates it be transferred to the 366th Judicial District Court." [7] A few days later, the case retained the same name, but was re-numbered to show that it was being decided in the 366th Judicial District Court: Case No. 366-00108-2010.
Using only Princeton's official city records, District Court Judge Ray Wheless ruled: "that Princeton's southernmost corporate city limit officially extends to approximately 0.6 miles south of the intersection of F.M. Road 982 with U.S. Highway 380 but does NOT include the 5.5-mile stretch to FM 546." [3] "The order brings Princeton's south boundary back to where it stood for nearly 32 years." [3] Princeton's City Council minutes from July 11, 2011 state that "Councilmember Beauchamp made a motion to not appeal the Quo Warranto, Case No. 401-00108-2010. Councilmember Glass seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously." This decision was reported in The Princeton Herald on July 14, 2011, by Jamie Engle under the title, "City manager terminated, no appeal in 982 case."
In the United States, a state court has jurisdiction over disputes with some connection to a U.S. state. State courts handle the vast majority of civil and criminal cases in the United States; the United States federal courts are far smaller in terms of both personnel and caseload, and handle different types of cases. States often provide their trial courts with general jurisdiction and state trial courts regularly have concurrent jurisdiction with federal courts. Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction and their subject-matter jurisdiction arises only under federal law.
Dallas County is the second-most populous county in the U.S. state of Texas with a 2020 U.S. census of 2,613,539, making it the ninth-most populous county in the country. Dallas County is included in the Dallas-Arlington-Fort Worth metropolitan statistical area—colloquially referred to as the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Municipal expansion within Dallas County has blurred the geographic lines between cities and between neighboring counties.
Princeton is a city in Collin County, Texas, United States. The population was 17,027 at the 2020 census, and according to 2023 census estimates, the city is estimated to have a population of 28,027.
Prosper is a rural suburb in Collin and Denton counties in the U.S. state of Texas. Prosper is located within the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, its population was 9,423; As of 2023, the population was 37,746.
Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520 (1993), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that an ordinance passed in Hialeah, Florida, forbidding the "unnecessar[y]" killing of "an animal in a public or private ritual or ceremony not for the primary purpose of food consumption", was unconstitutional.
The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law 106–274 (text)(PDF), codified as 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc et seq., is a United States federal law that prohibits the imposition of burdens on the ability of prisoners to worship as they please and gives churches and other religious institutions a way to avoid zoning law restrictions on their property use. It also defines the term "religious exercise" to include "any exercise of religion, whether or not compelled by, or central to, a system of religious belief." RLUIPA was enacted by the United States Congress in 2000 to correct the problems of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of 1993. The act was passed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate by unanimous consent in voice votes, meaning that no objection was raised to its passage, so no written vote was taken. The S. 2869 legislation was enacted into law by the 42nd President of the United States Bill Clinton on September 22, 2000.
The structure of the judiciary of Texas is laid out in Article 5 of the Constitution of Texas and is further defined by statute, in particular the Texas Government Code and Texas Probate Code. The structure is complex, featuring many layers of courts, numerous instances of overlapping jurisdiction, several differences between counties, as well as an unusual bifurcated appellate system at the top level found in only one other state: Oklahoma. Municipal Courts are the most active courts, with County Courts and District Courts handling most other cases and often sharing the same courthouse.
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas is a federal court in the Fifth Circuit.
Gonzales v. O Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal, 546 U.S. 418 (2006), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that, under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, the government had failed to show a compelling interest in prosecuting religious adherents for drinking a sacramental tea containing a Schedule I controlled substance. After the federal government seized its sacramental tea, the União do Vegetal (UDV), the New Mexican branch of a Brazilian church that imbibes ayahuasca in its services, sued, claiming the seizure was illegal, and sought to ensure future importation of the tea for religious use. The church won a preliminary injunction from the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico, which was affirmed on appeal.
The government of Texas operates under the Constitution of Texas and consists of a unitary democratic state government operating under a presidential system that uses the Dillon Rule, as well as governments at the county and municipal levels.
McKinney Independent School District (McKinney ISD) is a public independent school district in McKinney, Texas, United States. In addition to McKinney, the district serves the town of New Hope and parts of Allen, Fairview, Weston, Princeton, and Lowry Crossing. The district operates 21 elementary schools, five middle schools, three high schools, four alternative schools, and one early childhood education center.
The administrative divisions of Virginia are the areas into which the Commonwealth of Virginia, a U.S. state, is divided for political and administrative purposes. Some are local governments; others are not. However, all local governments are political subdivisions of the state.
The Judiciary of Colorado is established and authorized by Article VI of the Colorado Constitution as well as the law of Colorado. The various courts include the Colorado Supreme Court, Colorado Court of Appeals, Colorado district courts, Colorado county courts, Colorado water courts, and municipal courts. The administration of the state judicial system is the responsibility of the Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court as its executive head and is assisted by several other commissions. In Denver, the county and municipal courts are integrated and administratively separate from the state court system.
The Washington Court of Appeals is the intermediate level appellate court for the state of Washington. The court is divided into three divisions. Division I is based in Seattle, Division II is based in Tacoma, and Division III is based in Spokane.
Hadacheck v. Sebastian, 239 U.S. 394 (1915), was an early U.S. Supreme Court case on the constitutionality of zoning ordinances. The Court held that an ordinance of Los Angeles, California, prohibiting the manufacturing of bricks within specified limits of the city did not unconstitutionally deprive the petitioner of his property without due process of law, or deny him equal protection of the laws.
Richard Alexander Schell is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
South Carolina government and politics covers the three different branches of government, as well as the state constitution, law enforcement agencies, federal representation, state finances, and state taxes. South Carolina is a state in the United States of America and was the eighth admitted to the Union. The state of South Carolina was preceded by the Crown Colony of South Carolina, a constitutional monarchy which was overthrown during the American Revolution. Presently, South Carolina's government is formed as a representative democracy.
The government of Washington State is the governmental structure of the State of Washington, United States, as established by the Constitution of the State of Washington. The executive is composed of the Governor, several other statewide elected officials and the Governor's cabinet. The Washington State Legislature consists of the House of Representatives and State Senate. The judiciary is composed of the Washington Supreme Court and lower courts. There is also local government, consisting of counties, municipalities and special districts.
The U.S. state of Texas has a total of 254 counties, many cities, and numerous special districts, the most common of which is the independent school district.
Mary Lou Keel has been a Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals since 2016. Between 1995 and 2016 she presided over the 232nd District Court in Harris County, Texas. She had previously served as assistant district attorney in Harris County. She received her undergraduate degree in English from the University of Texas in 1982. She received her Juris Doctor from the University of Houston Law Center in 1985. Her husband, Jim Hippard Jr., is an attorney. They have three children.
Municipalities and communities of Collin County, Texas, United States | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cities |  | |
| Towns | ||
| CDPs | ||
| Other communities |
| |
| Historical communities | ||
| Ghost towns | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |