If Judge Gena Slaughter fails to issue rulings by Nov. 3 on seven motions that have been pending from six months to two years, then an appellate court will issue an order to force the judge to rule, a court opinion said.

Slaughter, judge of Dallas County's 191st District Court, faced a judicial sanction last October because she didn't rule for 15 months on a motion in another case. But she won an appeal that lessened the severity of her sanction, because the appellate court found that Slaughter's "lack of diligence"—not willful misconduct—had caused the lengthy delay.