Michael Adams-Hurta
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adams-hurta.bsky.social
Michael Adams-Hurta
@adams-hurta.bsky.social
1.6K followers 770 following 1.4K posts
Houston, Texas appellate attorney with side interests in progressive politics and making the world a better place
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adams-hurta.bsky.social
They say Democrats need good candidates all the way down the ballot. They say going progressives need to run for office, too.

I checked both those boxes off today.

I just filed to run for Texas's Fourteenth Court of Appeals, an intermediate appellate court here in Houston.

www.adams-hurta.com
I'm at the Texas Democratic Party office in Austin, tired but smiling and holding the following sign: "I'm on the Ballot"! My campaign logo!
December 6, 2025 at 8:17 PM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
TIL the new Mayor-elect of New York City once did some organizing work in Houston.
Screenshot of Nov. 11, 2014 Facebook post from TexPIRG. There is a picture of young Zohran Mamdani with a mustache. The post says: "Meet one of our new field associates, Zohran Mamdani, who will be organizing at Lone Star Community College in Houston on our Health Insurance 101 campaign."
November 5, 2025 at 3:19 PM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
Minimal duty: voting to send a new Democrat to Congress (and, we think, someone more energetic and less reckless than some of the party's leaders).
Selfie with the wife and kiddo after voting today in Houston. Oh and there's a giant skeleton in the back.
October 26, 2025 at 7:34 PM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
Couldn't attend a protest today because we had a wedding to attend in Port Aransas, Texas. Turns out there was a local No Kings protest, anyway.
October 18, 2025 at 11:27 PM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
🙏
My dog Fig, with a torn up tennis ball, licking her nose
September 19, 2025 at 2:22 PM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
Raffi is an influencer. (I have been influenced)
A couple remaining slices of margherita pizza from Coastline Pizzeria in Houston, TX, bought after Raffi posted a picture of his own margherita pizza from Coastline.
August 31, 2025 at 12:54 AM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
So. Yelp thinks I'm normally not fun. Thanks, algorithm.
Yelp alert saying, "Let 'fun Michael' come out."
August 3, 2025 at 12:17 AM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
This is the maybe the most callous and anti-life statement I've seen out of this Administration outside of the immigration context (and it's competitive with some of that, too). Emergency action to save lives costs six figures or more literally every day and is perfectly reasonable???
"It is laughable that a career public employee, who claims to serve the American people, would choose to resign over our refusal to hastily approve a six-figure deployment contract without basic financial oversight," another DHS spokesman said in a statement about Pagueek's resignation. "We're being responsible with taxpayer dollars, that's our job."
July 22, 2025 at 12:34 PM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
Altuve has hit multiple homers against the Dodgers tonight and I got to watch fireworks from my bedroom window. Patriotism returned.
A photo of fireworks outside the window. A photo of fireworks outside the window.
July 5, 2025 at 3:02 AM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
Well, that officially explains one of the other vetoes, so that wouldn't be shocking.
Tweets from X/Twitter today: John C. Moritz: Among the vetoes announced so far is SB1278, which was designed to protect victims of human trafficking who were compelled into prostitution by their traffickers. @Senfronia4Texas was pretty animated when she laid this out on the House floor, as I recall. #txlege Greg Abbott replying: It had a flaw in it. I put it on the special session to fix it.
June 23, 2025 at 4:33 AM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
Finalizing a reply brief in the hot, muggy Houston outdoors because my dog is a needy weirdo who likes this weather.
Fig the dog chilling outside in front of her house while I finish on my laptop (the edge of which is visible in the photo's corner)
June 3, 2025 at 11:22 PM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
as useful as an appellate lawyer in a deposition. #appellatesky
A google search of "as useful as an appellate lawyer in a deposition meaning" and the top of the AI overview: "The saying "as useful as an appellate lawyer in a deposition" means someone or something is completely useless or irrelevant. It's a humorous and hyperbolic way of saying something is not helpful at all in a particular situation, in this case, a deposition. Appellate lawyers specialize in appeals, not in the process of gathering information from a witness under oath, which is what a deposition is. Therefore, having an appellate lawyer for a deposition would be an entirely inappropriate and pointless use of their expertise." More of the AI overview: Here's a breakdown of why the saying is used: Appellate lawyers focus on appeals: They specialize in legal arguments presented to higher courts after a trial is already complete. Depositions are part of the discovery process: They are a crucial stage of litigation where parties gather information about the case from witnesses before trial. The skills are mismatched: Appellate lawyers' skills in legal research, writing briefs, and presenting arguments are not relevant to the process of questioning witnesses in a deposition. In essence, the saying highlights the complete lack of overlap between the roles of an appellate lawyer and the needs of a deposition. It's a way of emphasizing how inappropriate or ineffective someone might be in a specific situation.
April 24, 2025 at 3:46 AM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
This is the bread of affliction our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. Let all who are hungry come and eat. Even the dog.

Chag Sameach.
A toddler feeding matzo to the dog.
April 13, 2025 at 4:52 AM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
Justice Boyd's statement on the other site:
STATEMENT FROM JUSTICE JEFF BOYD "I am honored and blessed to have served on the Texas Supreme Court these past twelve years. I'm especially grateful to Governor Rick Perry for appointing me to the Court in 2012, to many Texans who have encouraged, supported, and voted for me through two statewide elections, to my many Court and campaign colleagues and co-workers for their friendship and inspiration, and to my wife Jackie and our children for reminding me daily of life's most important blessings. It's now time to let another take the helm. I will not be running for re-election in 2026 and will retire from the Court this summer, near the end of its current annual term. May God continue to bless Texas and this honorable Court."--Jeff Boyd, Justice, Texas Supreme Court
April 9, 2025 at 5:33 PM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
Tom from Myspace
March 28, 2025 at 3:54 PM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
A photo you'd use as an album cover
Child Michael (5yo maybe?) next to his sister on a now very dated couch, throwing his arms up in the air as if gesturing in exasperation some mix of "oh no" and "whatever." There is also a Big Bird book in the corner.
March 9, 2025 at 4:24 AM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
I don't see why Go Texan Day should preclude pajamas.
Texas flag pajamas
February 28, 2025 at 6:13 AM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
I think it's very funny that Perrier felt the need to pretend to be hardcore with a line of drinks.
Photo of Maison Perrier Ultimate can of sparkling water.
February 22, 2025 at 12:06 AM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
Pot calling the kettle black again, I see.
Vance said of Donald Trump’s re-election: “There is a new sheriff in town.” He said: “Democracy will not survive if their people’s concerns are deemed invalid or even worse not worth being considered.”
February 15, 2025 at 6:49 AM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
Houston has frozen over. #housnow
Fig the dog with a snowy tennis ball in Houston A toddler experiencing snow for the first time while his mother holds his hand.
January 21, 2025 at 3:59 PM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
In contrast, SCOTUS should be deciding many more cases like Donte Parrish. Not just because it is appellate procedure (which I love, of course), but just because it is a boring but important legal question that lower courts disagree on. More of that!
Caption page of thepetition for review in Donte Parrish v. United States QUESTION PRESENTED Ordinarily, litigants must file a notice of appeal within 30 or 60 days of an adverse judgment. 28 U.S.C. § 2107(a)–(b). Under 28 U.S.C. § 2107(c) and Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(6), however, district courts can reopen an expired appeal period when a party did not receive timely notice of the judgment. The Courts of Appeals have divided about whether a notice of appeal filed after the expiration of the ordinary appeal period but before the appeal period is reopened becomes effective once reopening is granted. The Question Presented is whether a litigant who files a notice of appeal after the ordinary appeal period expires must file a second, duplicative notice after the appeal period is reopened.
January 17, 2025 at 10:04 PM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
For some reason it seemed appropriate that these skeets appeared next to each other. Cc @eladiobobadilla.com @scotusplaces.bsky.social
Screenshot from two skeets in my timeline. The top skeet shows a footnote that says, "This was once revealed to me in a dream." The bottom one asks, "What citation signal when you want the court to go look at the reference to see that what the other side said isn't there?"
January 8, 2025 at 9:53 PM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
And yet the NYT has not updated their own dictionary.
screengrab of the NYT's Spelling Bee from today, 1/6/25, with "Yeet" being "Not in word list."
January 6, 2025 at 5:21 PM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
I'm paid to mansplain the law to judges. #appellatesky
Graphic that states "Poorly explain what you do for a job."
December 31, 2024 at 2:46 AM
adams-hurta.bsky.social
Hannukah spread from last night—led by roast chicken, latkes, gravlax, & confit beans—courtesy of @k-adams-hurta.bsky.social! Dessert was olive oil cake.
Hannukah dinner spread from one side of the table Hannukah dinner spread from the other side of the table
December 29, 2024 at 4:19 PM