Texans for Fiscal Responsibility has announced our endorsements in the contested races for the Supreme Court. We enthusiastically support for re-election Nathan Hecht, Jeff Brown and Phil Johnson.
The Texas Supreme Court is the “court of last resort for civil matters in the State of Texas.” (Criminal matters are not referred to the Texas Supreme Court, but rather the Court of Criminal Appeals.) The justices serve six-year terms.
While the ethics for good judicial conduct do not allow judicial candidates to speak on how they will rule on matters, we can review how they (and their opponents) have acted. To that end, we engaged in a review of their records, public comments, and endorsements, without input from the candidates or their campaigns.
All three sitting justices on the Supreme Court being challenged have demonstrated the kind of judicial restraint conservatives expect from the Supreme Court. They have been widely praised by conservative lawmakers, attorneys and fellow judges.
Mr. Hecht was recently appointed as the chief justice on the court. He is being challenged by former GOP State Rep. Robert Talton of Houston. In his last year in the House, Mr. Talton scored a 79 on the Fiscal Responsibility Index. Talton has never held a judicial post.
Mr. Johnson, a decorated Air Force veteran of the war in Vietnam, is being challenged by Sharon McCally who sits on the state’s 14th Court of Appeals. McCally is, like Pool, being strongly supported by the plaintiff-bar trial lawyers eager to overturn the state’s successful tort reform measures.
Mr. Brown is being challenged by attorney Joe Pool, Jr., who was briefly a candidate for Railroad Commission trumpeting as experience the fact his father was an “at-large” congressmen from Texas. Pool has employed a Democrat hack-lawyer in trying (unsuccessfully) to kick Brown off the ballot. Pool’s contribution have come largely from trial lawyers.
What others are saying…
It is worth noting that Justices Hecht, Brown and Johnson have also been endorsed for re-election by:
