RICHMOND, Texas (Covering Katy News) — The Texas Supreme Court has blocked a lower court's order that had removed Brittanye Morris from the May 26 Democratic runoff ballot for Fort Bend County Precinct 4 commissioner, handing the front-runner a major legal victory just days before ballots were set to be printed.
The state's high court issued an emergency stay order Thursday, allowing Morris to remain on the ballot while the court decides whether to permanently overturn the ruling by Senior District Judge Susan Brown of the 458th District Court. Brown had ruled April 3 that Morris was ineligible because she did not meet the precinct's residency requirements when she filed for the race.
The ruling effectively ends — at least for now — a legal effort by Nicole Roberts, who finished third in the March 3 primary, to bump Morris off the ballot and insert herself into the runoff in her place.
"The rule of law isn't just a principle, it's protection," Morris wrote on her campaign Facebook page Thursday. "And today, it prevailed."
In a post to her campaign Facebook page Friday, Roberts wrote that the court's order would "prevent my name from appearing on the ballot."
"It's unfortunate we couldn't stop the disenfranchisement of the people this time, but the fight will always continue," she also wrote.
April Jones, who finished second in the primary and qualified for the runoff without controversy, declined to comment on the Supreme Court order. She previously said, "With everything that's going on, I'm staying very focused on my race."
What Happened
Morris won the most votes in the seven-candidate March 3 primary with 18.82% of the vote, followed by Jones at 17.64% and Roberts at 16.41%. The remaining four candidates split the rest of the vote. Because no candidate received more than 50% — the threshold needed for an outright win — Morris and Jones, as the top two finishers, qualified for the May 26 runoff.
Three days after the primary, Roberts filed a lawsuit arguing Morris did not live in Precinct 4 six months before the Dec. 8, 2025 candidate filing deadline, as required by Texas law. On April 3, Brown ruled in Roberts' favor and ordered the Fort Bend County Democratic Party to remove Morris's name from the runoff ballot and replace it with Roberts' name.
The legal argument is straightforward: under Texas Election Code Section 172.060(a), once a candidate qualifies for a runoff ballot, that candidate's name stays on the ballot — even if the candidate dies or is later declared ineligible. Because the law does not allow Morris to be removed, Morris's attorneys argued Roberts had no legal standing to bring the lawsuit, which means the lower court had no jurisdiction to rule on it at all.
The Supreme Court agreed with that reasoning enough to issue the emergency stay. Ballots for overseas and military voters were due to begin mailing April 11.
The Morris Campaign's Response
In a statement, Morris's campaign called Roberts' legal effort an unlawful attempt to overturn certified election results.
"The voters made their choice clear on March 3," Morris said. "Attempts to reverse that outcome through the courts are not only baseless but undermine confidence in our elections."
The campaign noted that two prominent Texas election attorneys — one representing Democratic interests and one with Republican ties — have joined together to defend Morris's candidacy.
"This case is about protecting the integrity of elections and ensuring voters — not political maneuvering — decide outcomes," Morris added. "Elections are decided at the ballot box. And that's exactly where this decision belongs."
What's Next
The Texas Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the underlying merits of the case. For now, Morris remains on the May 26 runoff ballot against Jones. On the Republican side, Ken Mathews and Adam Schoof are headed to their own Precinct 4 runoff on the same date. Early in-person voting for both races runs May 18-22.
If the court ultimately rules that Morris is ineligible, a separate provision of the Texas Election Code could allow Roberts to replace her on the ballot. But Morris's attorneys argue that same outcome is prohibited by the law that keeps runoff candidates on the ballot no matter what — and that conflict between two sections of the election code is exactly what the Supreme Court will have to sort out.
Who we are: Covering Katy News is independently owned and operated by professional journalists with more than 50 years of combined experience. Unlike many other local media outlets, we do not accept special purpose district funding — such as from MUDs, drainage districts or other taxing entities — nor do we accept funding from any government source, whether municipal, county, state or federal. We are self-sustaining — no outside investors — supported entirely by local advertisers. Our owner and publisher, Dennis Spellman, and his staff live locally, so we understand local issues. Since 2022, Spellman has also served county residents in a communications role for Fort Bend County Pct. 3. Since our founding in 2011, our editorial decisions have been made independently — and that will never change.