County Judge · Harris County Court
What applies in this courtroom
184 verified requirements may apply in this courtroom, by layer: 0 published by Judge Lina Maria Hidalgo · 170 county-wide · 3 region-wide · 11 statewide — with 9 rule deadlines across those layers. Only the judge's own rules are specific to this courtroom; the other layers apply by court, county and state scope, and a court- or case-specific order can displace them.
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County Judge — Harris County (constitutional county court)
Judge Lina Hidalgo is the head of Harris County’s governing body. She is the first woman to be elected County Judge and only the second to be elected to the Commissioners Court.
Harris County is the third largest county in our nation. Its population of more than 4.5 million rivals that of the entire state of Colorado. The Harris County Judge and four County Commissioners oversee a $4.3 billion budget that helps fund key county services and institutions.
The County Judge is the presiding officer on the Commissioners Court. As the main governing body of Harris County, the Commissioners Court plays a critical role that is part administrative, part legislative, and part judicial. Its many responsibilities include adopting a budget; setting tax rates; calling for bond elections; building and maintaining county infrastructure such as roads and bridges; and overseeing county courthouses, jails, libraries, parks, and the Harris County Flood Control District.
By state law, the County Judge is also the county’s director of emergency management, leading the Harris County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management (HCOHSEM). In addition to her formal duties, Judge Hidalgo plays an important advocacy role for the County.
Judge Hidalgo believes that our region will remain competitive only through proactive and creative leadership on issues like flood control, transportation, criminal justice reform, and education. She is committed to ensuring that Harris County government is transparent, accessible, and accountable to every resident. She wants Harris County to be a place where everyone can attain the American Dream.
Judge Hidalgo’s leadership has been recognized through numerous awards and national honors. She received the prestigious John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award for her swift response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was recognized with the Jack Brooks Foundation Leadership Award for her work to protect voting rights and access to the ballot box. Judge Hidalgo has also been named to the TIME Magazine 100 Next list as well as Forbes 30 Under 30.
Published by the Harris County Court on this judge's own profile page and reproduced verbatim — BenchPath does not write or paraphrase judicial biographies. Read it on the court's site →
Appeals from this courtroom go to the First Court of Appeals or the Fourteenth Court of Appeals.
● LiveThat court's published bench (18): Amparo "Amy" Guerra, Andrew Johnson, Clint Morgan, David M. Gunn, Jennifer Caughey, Kristin Guiney, Susanna Dokupil, Terry Adams, Veronica Rivas-Molloy, Brad Hart, Chad Bridges, Katy Boatman, Ken Wise, Kevin Jewell, Maritza M. Antu, Randy Wilson, Tonya McLaughlin, Tracy Christopher
This county lies in the district the First and Fourteenth Courts of Appeals share; new appeals are assigned between them by random draw (Tex. Gov't Code sec. 22.202(h)). County-to-district assignment per Tex. Gov't Code sec. 22.201(b) and Tex. Gov't Code sec. 22.201(o), live-fetched registry.
This tab lists judge-and-division rules only, and this judge's division publishes its practice at the county, region, and statewide layers instead — 184 verified requirements may apply across those layers. The Full Premium Report assembles every one of them, cited.
See all 184 in the Full Premium Report →No judge-level deadline on record runs shorter than a statewide deadline with the same trigger. The sentinel compares quoted timing across every published rule scoped to this judge on each visit — a clean result today is re-earned tomorrow.
No judge-scoped deadlines on this tab. Deadlines are extracted only when the source rule text states them — we never infer or calculate dates the rule does not explicitly contain. 9 rule deadlines apply in this courtroom across all layers — assembled with citations in the Full Premium Report.
Timing shown here is quoted from the rule text. Compute your actual date against the court's calendar and the rule itself — not legal advice.
No verified ruling summary yet. BenchPath generates ruling summaries from opinion and docket corpora (CourtListener where covered) and publishes them only after human review — fabricated judicial analytics are exactly what this platform refuses to ship.
The attributed-opinion corpus covers Florida's and California's appellate decisions today; a Texas opinion corpus is a separate build. Absence here is a coverage statement, never evidence about this judge.
Use the live case-law search below to see what exists for this judge today.
Answer three quick questions. The platform pulls Lina Maria Hidalgo's full public case-law record from the source, newest first — your matter never narrows the pull; it directs the relevance ranking and the dual-AI analysis. Every hit comes back Bluebook-cited with the opinion's own words quoted verbatim. The scan takes the time precision takes.
Case-law search
CourtListener · free connector · liveCoverage note: CourtListener is strongest for federal courts and state appellate courts. Texas trial-court opinions are essentially absent from the source — an absence of results is a coverage gap, not evidence about this judge.
No rule-level sources registered yet — judge-level provenance is listed in the Overview tab.
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County Judge — Harris County (constitutional county court)current
date not recorded — present
assignment source →No source changes detected for this judge yet — when the underlying court pages move, it shows up here first.