The Supreme Court of Texas is meeting in conference today,  August 15. It's the first conference in a while, given the summer court schedule. But without even warming up or stretching out, the court is managing to sandwich four days of conference in the next five work days.

I am sure it will reward us all with a blizzard of opinions on August 23. Hopefully, not all mine and not all at the same time please.

'K, thanks.

But at this time of year I like to troll the stats at SCOTXBlog and see who holds the record for longest pending cases.

Right up there is In re Whataburger Restaurants, complaining that the trial court did not state a valid reason for granting a new trial.

The Court asked for full briefing way back on April 15, 2011. You remember April 15, 2011, right? The top grossing movie was the animated feature "Rio." I remember it like it was yesterday.

OK, that was a lie. I don't remember. Two years is a long time ago. My teenager could not drive at that point. But we cannot give the prize to a case merely pending on the briefs.

Recently, we tipped our Stetson to the court for the record clearing of argued cases. But this year, elections or court turnover or rodents of unusual size ("ROUS's") have prevented it. So alas, one must give the prize to the case that has been pending the longest after argument.

Thus, the prize goes to Rio Grande Regional Hospital v. Lopez, which was argued February 9, 2012, appealing a judgment for nursing malpractice for failing to prevent a patient's suicide.

Of course everyone remembers February 9, smack dab in the middle of primary season. That day was notable for the State Department Briefing: the U.S. was trying to stop the violence in Syria and wanted to keep Iran from getting a nuke.

Or was that just yesterday? I guess the briefings in the last 18 months have run together.

Anyhow, strap yourselves in, because the dams are about to break on August 23. Law-oh-Palooza.