Texas Third Court of Appeals: Austin Jurisdiction and Opinions

The Texas Third Court of Appeals sits in Austin and serves as the intermediate appellate court for a 24-county region of central Texas. It reviews civil and criminal cases appealed from district and county courts, issues published and unpublished opinions that carry binding precedential weight within its territory, and functions as the primary gateway between trial-level adjudication and the Texas Supreme Court or Court of Criminal Appeals. Understanding how the Third Court operates — its geographic reach, case categories, and decision-making standards — is essential for litigants, attorneys, and government entities navigating the appellate process in the Austin metro and surrounding counties.

Definition and scope

The Third Court of Appeals is one of 14 intermediate appellate courts established under the Texas Constitution, Article V, §6, which authorizes the Texas Legislature to create courts of appeals and define their jurisdiction by statute. The court's primary statutory authority appears in Texas Government Code, Chapter 22.

The court's geographic coverage spans 24 counties: Travis, Bastrop, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Coke, Coleman, Hays, Kimble, Lampasas, Lee, Llano, Mason, McCulloch, Mills, Menard, San Saba, Schleicher, Sutton, Tom Green, and additional central Texas counties assigned by the Legislature. Travis County — home to Austin and the seat of Texas state government — generates the largest share of the court's docket. Cases arising from Travis County courts, including the Travis County Civil Courts, Travis County Criminal Courts, and Travis County Family Courts, feed directly into the Third Court's appellate pipeline.

Scope limitations: This page addresses the Third Court of Appeals' jurisdiction over cases originating in its 24-county territory. It does not cover the jurisdiction of the Texas Supreme Court or the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which sit above the Third Court in the appellate hierarchy. Federal cases, federal district court decisions, and matters before the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals are entirely outside this court's scope. Municipal court decisions from Austin Municipal Court are not directly appealable to the Third Court — they typically proceed first through county-level courts before reaching the intermediate appellate level. Cases arising in counties assigned to other Texas courts of appeals (such as the Fourth Court in San Antonio or the First and Fourteenth Courts in Houston) are not covered here.

How it works

The Third Court of Appeals consists of a Chief Justice and 5 Associate Justices — 6 justices total — elected in partisan elections to staggered 6-year terms under Texas Government Code §22.201. Cases are typically decided by 3-justice panels drawn from the full court.

The appellate process follows this sequence:

  1. Notice of Appeal filed — A party files a notice of appeal in the trial court within the statutory deadline, typically 30 days of final judgment under Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 26.1.
  2. Clerk's record and reporter's record assembled — The trial court clerk prepares the written record; the court reporter transcribes proceedings. These two documents form the entire evidentiary universe available to the appellate court.
  3. Briefing — Appellant files an opening brief; appellee responds; appellant may reply. Word limits and deadlines are governed by the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure.
  4. Panel assignment — The Chief Justice assigns the case to a 3-justice panel.
  5. Oral argument (discretionary) — The court may grant oral argument or decide on the briefs alone. A substantial portion of cases are decided without oral argument.
  6. Opinion issued — The court issues a written opinion: either published (designated for citation as precedent) or memorandum (unpublished, not controlling authority under Rule 47.7).
  7. Motion for rehearing / en banc reconsideration — Losing parties may seek rehearing by the panel or reconsideration by all 6 justices sitting en banc.
  8. Petition for review — If the party remains unsatisfied, they may petition the Texas Supreme Court (civil cases) or the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (criminal cases).

Published opinions of the Third Court are available through the Texas Judiciary Online case search portal and through the official Third Court of Appeals opinions page.

Common scenarios

The Third Court's docket reflects the institutional concentration of state government in Austin. Because Travis County hosts the Texas Legislature, the Governor's Office, and dozens of state agencies — including the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Texas Department of Transportation — a disproportionate share of state administrative appeals land in the Third Court.

State agency appeals represent one of the most distinctive categories. Under Texas Government Code §2001.901 (the Administrative Procedure Act), final orders of state agencies are generally appealed to a Travis County district court and then, if further appealed, to the Third Court. This makes the Third Court the dominant Texas appellate venue for challenges to agency rulemaking, licensing decisions, and enforcement orders.

Civil government litigation is another high-volume category, including contract disputes involving state entities, eminent domain proceedings affecting central Texas counties, and challenges to local government actions by Austin, Travis County, Hays County, or Caldwell County entities.

Family law appeals from Travis County family district courts — covering divorce, child custody modifications, termination of parental rights, and adoption — constitute a consistent portion of the docket.

Criminal appeals from Travis County district courts proceed to the Third Court for non-capital felonies and misdemeanors where a county court has issued a judgment. Capital murder convictions, however, bypass intermediate courts entirely and go directly to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

The Austin Third Court of Appeals docket page on this site provides additional context specific to the Austin civic framework.

Decision boundaries

Understanding what the Third Court can and cannot do clarifies the practical stakes of an appeal.

Standard of review is the threshold question in every case. The Third Court applies different standards depending on the nature of the ruling being challenged:

Type of Ruling Standard Applied
Questions of law (statutory interpretation) De novo — no deference to trial court
Factual findings (bench trial) Legally and factually sufficient evidence
Jury verdicts Legal sufficiency (no-evidence) or factual sufficiency
Discretionary trial court rulings Abuse of discretion
Agency findings of fact Substantial evidence (in administrative appeals)

The distinction between de novo review and abuse-of-discretion review is operationally significant. Under de novo review, the Third Court substitutes its own legal judgment entirely. Under abuse-of-discretion review, the court reverses only if the trial court acted without reference to guiding rules or principles — a substantially higher bar for the appellant.

Scope of the record is an absolute boundary. The Third Court cannot consider evidence outside the appellate record. Arguments, documents, or facts not preserved in the clerk's record or reporter's record do not exist for appellate purposes. Error preservation at trial — through timely objections and rulings — is a precondition for most appellate complaints.

Contrast with the Texas Supreme Court: The Third Court must accept jurisdiction over qualifying appeals; it has no general certiorari discretion to refuse cases that meet statutory requirements. The Texas Supreme Court, by contrast, grants petitions for review based on whether the case presents an important question of state law — meaning the vast majority of Third Court decisions are final. In the 2022 fiscal year, the Texas Supreme Court received approximately 1,400 petitions for review from all 14 intermediate courts combined, granting a small fraction (Texas Office of Court Administration, Annual Report 2022).

Readers seeking broader context about Austin's civic and governmental structure can explore the site index for reference pages covering courts, county government, and public services across the metro area.

References

Read Next

Travis County Courts: Structure, Jurisdiction, and Services This page details the organizational structure of Travis County courts, the jurisdictional boundaries that determine where a... Travis County Civil Courts: Cases, Procedures, and Filing This page explains the structure of Travis County's civil courts, how cases move through the system, the types of disputes... Travis County Criminal Courts: Felony and Misdemeanor Processing The structure determines how charges are filed, which judges preside, what penalties may be imposed, and how cases move from...