Litigation

Transparency Urged for Texas Court

By Raheem Dawodu

State Sen. Kirk Watson

An interesting debate is taking shape in Texas over how much transparency state Supreme Court justices should have. A bill by Texas State Senator Kirk Watson, left, would force the judges to disclose their votes on whether to accept or decline cases, according to this Austin American-Statesman article.

According to the article, 11  states already have such a requirement.  Watson says that many petitions for review come from lawyers and business interests who donate to Supreme Court justice elections.

“I believe the public ought to know how those elected officials are voting,” Watson said. “My bias tends to be for giving the voters as much information as you can and letting people make their decisions.”

The bill Watson drafted passed through the Senate committee but has stalled on the Senate floor. It has also garnered little support from current and past Supreme Court justices,  including current Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson, who said it would slow down the reviews process.

Watson’s proposal was endorsed in a recent  Austin American-Statesman editorial, which said:

Candidates for the Supreme Court run partisan, political races and therefore ought to have to defend their records. They accept millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the most controversial sources ? lawyers and businesses with cases before the court ? so their impartiality is always in question.

Full post as published by The Gavel on May 12, 2009 (boomark / email).