Texas doesn’t require enough disclosure from its judges to fully inform the public about conflicts of interest, according to a report from the Center for Public Integrity.
Judiciary of Texas
Posted inState Government
Brandenburg and Lyle: The TT Interview
Two experts in campaign finance and its effects on how judges decide cases say the money has a measurable effect and that some changes in law can help.
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Criminal Justice
Perry Taps Appeals Court Justice for Texas Supreme Court
Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday said he had appointed Houston’s Jeff Brown to an open spot on the Texas Supreme Court. Brown, a former state district judge, is currently a justice on Houston’s 14th Court of Appeals.
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Bidness As Usual
Judicial Pay Raises Bring a Little Something Extra
Lawmakers are talking seriously about a 21.5 percent pay raise for state district judges, which would increase the pensions of those same lawmakers by that same amount.
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Criminal Justice
Lawmakers Attempt to Change Truancy Laws
Some parents and advocacy organizations say the state’s truancy laws are too harsh. The Senate passed a bill last week to change these laws, compromising with judges and district officials who said the reforms were too broad.
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Criminal Justice
In Judicial Appointments, Perry Reaches Beyond Executive Branch
Gov. Rick Perry’s control of the executive branch after 12 years in office is well established. But he’s made hundreds of judicial appointments, too.
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Criminal Justice
Lubbock Judge: Obama Re-election Could Spark U.N. Takeover, Civil War
A Lubbock County judge is making headlines after suggesting that President Obama might hand over sovereignty of the United States to the United Nations, possibly igniting in a civil war.
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Criminal Justice
Local Court Race Tests Judicial Campaign Law
A runoff for the state district court in Marshall, just east of Longview near the Louisiana border, has two Republicans slinging lawsuits and ethics complaints over provisions of the Judicial Campaign Fairness Act.
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Criminal Justice
Making the Trip From the Bench to the Grass Roots
How do you get state judges to go to a weekday afternoon reception in rural West Texas? It depends on who else is there — and what it could mean for their re-election bids.
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Criminal Justice
In Texas, a Never-Ending Battle Over Judicial Elections
Political candidates across Texas are gearing up for the state’s May 29 primaries. And as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, that partisan campaigning extends to candidates who often promise to be impartial: the state’s judges.
