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All that I have discussed depends on an impartial system of justice overseen by the judicial branch. We lost one of that branches greatest leaders, Joe Greenhill, less than two weeks ago. He told me once that he regretted that Texas has continued to elect judges on a partisan basis. I regret it, too. A justice system built on some notion of Democratic judging or Republican judging is a system that cannot be trusted. I urge the Legislature to send the people a constitutional amendment that would allow judges to be selected on their merit.
If we do not reform it completely, judicial elections can at least be changed. And so my final call to action is that we consider common-sense solutions to the problems that plague partisan election of judges. First, I would eliminate straight ticket voting that allows judges to be swept from the bench ... not for poor work ethic, not for bad temperament, not even for their controversial but courageous decisions – but because of party affiliation. We saw this in Dallas County four years ago and in Harris County in the 1990s, in 2008 and just last year. Hordes of judges replaced for no good reason.
Let’s extend terms for state judges, from four years to six for district court judges, and from six years to eight for appellate courts judges. This will avoid some of the overhaul that occurs each election cycle, and drastically slows down the system. And let’s bring sense to the process to allow a judge appointed to an unexpired term to serve a full term before having to face the voters. That will give her or him experience and – this is important – a record to run on. We can do this, if not more.
