Monday, December 1, 2008

Judging Judges

"District judges at the Harris County civil and criminal courthouses were shocked and somber a day after voters gave nearly every incumbent seeking re-election their walking papers. 'Though we anticipated it would be close, to see really good judges swept out is still stunning,' said civil District Judge Patricia Kerrigan, a Republican who won her race by about 2,500 votes. ... But the fact that four Republican judges survived Democratic challenges left courthouse observers to speculate how they did it. ... Seven of the eight incumbent criminal district judges on the ballot were ousted", Mary Flood and Brian Rogers at the Houston Chronicle, 6 November 2008.

What happened? The "Repubs" shot themselves in the foot! Repub television ads bragged about the Texas Supreme Court's overturning 82% of the jury verdicts it ruled on. The Repubs in effect said, "We just repealed the Seventh Amendment in Texas". Another Repub ad bragged about Republican judges throwing out frivolous lawsuits so meritorious ones could proceed. The way it came out was: "We will throw your case out to protect our big business cronies". Net result: 11 of 14 Republican civil judges were thrown out. The people rule, all power to the people! What would happen to our Supremes in Washington if they were subject to a "retention" election every 12 years like California's Supremes? I wonder.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Repubs needs to reorient...