A tremendous amount of attention is now on the U.S. Supreme Court and the confirmation process for Amy Coney Barrett.
Meanwhile, starting with early voting on Oct. 13, voters in Texas will be able to make important judicial choices of their own, including who will sit on the Texas Supreme Court. It鈥檚 the highest state court for all civil cases.
Four seats will be , including chief justice.
Why The Court Matters
The power of the body has been felt more keenly during the pandemic, with rulings on mail-in voting, , and .
鈥淭hey鈥檙e the ones who decide the rules with respect to divorces and family laws, looking at what the family code means, looking at the Texas Constitution,鈥� said Charles 鈥淩ocky鈥� Rhodes of South Texas College of Law in Houston. 鈥淭hey impact a lot of our daily lives.鈥�
And even when it doesn鈥檛 make a ruling, the court has an impact.
Justices, for example, decided not to hear a case concerning Austin鈥檚 2018 law requiring companies to let workers accrue paid sick time. (A lower court had struck down the mandate.) The Texas Supreme Court, but the move .
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the type of thing that can go up to the Texas Supreme Court,鈥� said Mimi Marziani, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project. She expects the issue of municipal sick leave laws will eventually be heard at the Texas Supreme Court.
鈥淸The court] would affect the ability of hundreds of thousands of Texans, particularly working Texans, to have access to sick leave,鈥� she said.
Marziani also said the Texas Supreme Court can potentially serve as a check on other branches of state government, like the state Legislature.
鈥淓specially when it affects individual rights, are they going to require some sort of justification from the Legislature?鈥� she said.
2020 Elections
If you want to know how judicial candidates will rule in specific cases, too bad. Judicial ethics rules , and public comments on a case can be used by attorneys to argue a certain judge should be removed.
Judicial campaigns, consequently, often revolve around experience, party affiliation and a more general judicial 鈥渁pproach.鈥� The League of Women Voters has a nonpartisan voter鈥檚 guide .
For the past two decades, all Texas Supreme Court members have been Republicans.
Two Candidates
Current Justice Jeffrey Boyd said party affiliation shouldn鈥檛 affect how a justice rules.
鈥淚deally, if you elect good judges, it鈥檚 not going to matter what their own political or policy views are because judges are trained and required under our system to set those views aside,鈥� Boyd said.
Boyd has been on the court . Before his appointment by former Gov. Rick Perry, he was Perry's chief of staff and before that, his general counsel. Boyd has also worked in the private sector and in the attorney general鈥檚 office.
He won his first statewide election for Texas Supreme Court in 2014 and is up for re-election this year.
Boyd鈥檚 view is that judges should have a limited role, directly apply the law as written and avoid using a law鈥檚 supposed purpose as a guide in interpretation.
He said this approach is why he.
As for the court鈥檚 pro-business reputation, Boyd pointed out they are interpreting laws coming from the Texas Legislature.
鈥淭he laws of the state over the last 20 years have been increasingly pro-business,鈥� he said. 鈥淭ort reform, medical malpractice reform, insurance reform. We didn鈥檛 pass those laws. But it鈥檚 our job to apply them.鈥�
Justice Boyd鈥檚 challenger is Dallas County District Court Judge Staci Williams, a Democrat. Part of her pitch looks ahead to next year鈥檚 redistricting process, when lawmakers redraw federal and state legislative boundaries.
鈥淭here are going to be lawsuits, but it鈥檚 going to go up to the Texas Supreme Court,鈥� Williams said, citing a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court .
鈥淒o you want that decision to be reached by [a Texas] Supreme Court, full of one party? I don鈥檛 think so, because it鈥檚 not representative.鈥�
Williams also said she would work to repair the court鈥檚 reputation after recent that also make big donations to the justices鈥� political campaigns. She wants to review which firms are granted requests to have their cases heard.
鈥淭he problem right now that they鈥檙e facing is perception,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o you need some individuals with a clean record to go in and ensure that justice is being dispensed fairly.鈥�
For his part, Boyd said it鈥檚 often the case that lawyers on both sides of big cases have made political donations. He suggested the success of these attorneys is because they are experts in litigating at the Texas Supreme Court.
鈥淎ssume you had a case,鈥� Boyd said. 鈥淵ou want somebody that understands how the court ... as an institution operates.鈥�
Court Diversity
If elected, Williams would be the first Black female justice in state history.
Rhodes said while there are 鈥渟ome very good justices鈥� on the court right now, it would benefit from different backgrounds and perspectives.
鈥淣ot every case that鈥檚 decided by the judges can always be decided by just looking at a law book and 鈥榟ere鈥檚 the answer,鈥欌�� he said.
The Texas Supreme Court has to resolve the 鈥渕ost difficult questions,鈥� including common law matters based on policy and precedent, not written statutes. Legitimate arguments can be made either way in many cases that make it up to the Court, Rhodes said.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no substitute in cases like that for a variety of perspectives from the justices,鈥� Rhodes said.
Got a tip? Email Bret Jaspers at bjaspers@kera.org. You can follow Bret on Twitter .
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