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North Lake College Current State of Political Elections in Texas Court System Response
1 classmate reaction posts. Must be a minimum of 250 words. You must use sources here only if you are refuting something a classmate has stated, based on research.
They MUST be thoughtful posts, with a full explanation, agreeing or disagreeing with a classmate. Simply agreeing or disagreeing is not helpful and will not earn any points. Pleasantries, telling a classmate “good job”, etc. do not count towards the minimum word count.
I want you to reply the below post.Faith Chipps
Professor Hitt
GOVT-2306-71303
3 Nov 2021
Texas Partisan Election System
Texas is one of six states that requires judicial selection for all judicial offices by partisan elections. In the Texas Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, and the Court of Criminal Appeals, a judge must be a U.S. citizen, a Texas resident, 35-75 years old, licensed to practice law in Texas, and a practicing lawyer and/or judge for at least ten years. In district courts, a judge must be a U.S. citizen, a Texas resident, 25-75 years old, a practicing lawyer and/or judge for at least four years and a resident of his or her district for more than two years. In statutory and probate courts, judges must be at least 25 years old, a resident of his or her county for at least two years, and have practiced law for over four years before the election. Justice of the Peace Courts require judges to take a forty-hour course before the election and take twenty-hour courses each year they continue to serve. While the Texas Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and the Court of Criminal Appeals have 6-year term lengths, the district, statutory, probate, and Justice of the Peace courts have 4-year term lengths.
Law firms and special interest groups are likely donors for judicial campaigns in Texas. This suggests that people and businesses are willing to donate large sums of money to judicial campaigns so the judges “pay back” the donors by judging court cases in favor of the donor’s preferred outcome. In 1995, the Judicial Campaign Fairness Act attempted to reduce this problem by limiting individual judicial campaign donations to $5,000, and law firm donations to $30,000. However, biased judging caused by financial donations is still an ongoing issue in Texas courts.
Judicial bias is the leading cause prompting the idea of reform. Cases should be judged with impartiality, however, if citizens are voting for certain judges simply because of the judges’ political stances, and not by their fair and just practices, Texan courts will soon become solely political. There are political issues that could keep reform from occurring. Reform must win a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers to be enacted. In the past, many attempts for reform have been futile. Also, voters protest the reform, stating that reforming the judicial voting process is taking away their freedom of choice.
I believe limiting campaign contributions to judicial candidates can fix the perceived sales sign over the judicial branch of Texas. If Texan judges can be influenced with financial donations into falsely judging court cases, it can cause the innocent to suffer. The best option to prevent monetary influences is to further limit campaign contributions.
Lastly, I believe our judicial elections system needs reform. Currently, most people are voting for the judges within their own political party, instead of the most qualified and fair judges. If voters continue this trend, judges will be elected only because of their stance on politics. I also believe there needs to be stricter limitations on campaign contributions, limiting financial influence on Texan judges.
Works Cited
Plattoff, Emma. “State Leaders Again Want to Review How Texas Elects Judges. Will They End Partisan Judicial Elections?” texastribune.org, The Texas Tribune, 15 July 2019, texastribune.org/2019/07/15/texas-partisan-judicial-elections-reform-abbott-support/. Accessed 25 Oct 2021.
Staff, Signal. “In Texas, Is Justice Still for Sale?” texassignal.com, Texas Signal, 5 Oct 2020, texassignal.com/in-texas-is-justice-still-for-sale/. Accessed 25 Oct 2021.
Chammah, Maurice. “Judicial Donations Raise Questions of Partiality.” texastribune.org, The Texas Tribune, 26 Mar 2013, texastribune.org/2013/03/26/donations-judicial-campaigns-spur-ethics-worries/. Accessed 25 Oct 2021.
Liberato, Lynne et al., “Texas Commission on Judicial Selection Final Report.” txcourts.gov, Texas Judicial Branch, 29 Dec 2020, txcourts.gov/media/1450219/201230_tcjs-final-report_compressed.pdf. Accessed 25 Oct 2021.
