Judicial Races - Boring But Important

As soon as the holidays are over you'll start to see campaigns start to rev up their engines as they sprint toward the March primary. The races that are going to get all the attention are the gubernatorial, the congressional (even though it won't be close) and the state rep race between State Reps Claudia Ordaz Perez and Art Fierro. 

But as important as those races are - the judicial races in this cycle are just as important. First of all, if you need an example of why judicial races are so important, look at the fact that Judge Bonnie Rangel is still on the bench. If a judge that remarks how beautiful a defendant is that admitted to stabbing a dead baby and then hiding the body, then complimenting the embattled DA's office for essentially letting her off the hook, then nothing will get it through to you. 

But make no mistake - the races are important. Over this election season I'm going to try to interview all the candidates and ask them the relevant questions and post them here and in my upcoming podcast that I'm (finally) launching soon. 

Here's why they matter - 

One is a seat on the 8th Court of Appeals. Since the Texas Supreme Court hears so few cases per year, the 8th Court of Appeals is very often the last word on cases. The stakes are really high in terms of outcome of this race. Don't believe me? Well that court held our community's health in their hands when they ruled on a mask mandate. To get a little nerdy here, there's a concept in law called Stare Decisis. That is the principle of judicial precedent, upon which so many cases are argued. With the Republicans making the laws for so long and packing the courts for so long, its important our community has a voice in legal decisions. Seriously, this race is important. 

Open seats are pretty rare in local races and when they happen, they sort of knock over the legal chess pieces when they are unexpectedly open because a lot of folks that weren't anticipating running for a seat find themselves in a position where they have to made a decision. Politics is the intersection of timing and opportunity and when it prevents itself, the decision can be challenging. 

The 327th District Court race is an open seat. If you believe the word around the water coolers at the courthouse, there was allegedly a movida to clear the path for a judge to sort of bequeath the seat to a friendly. That alone should drive interest in this race. 

So far there is one Latina candidate, one Latino candidate, and two anglo women running for the seat. This court hears mostly civil courts as I understand, and a couple of the candidates have experience on the bench. So a mostly qualified field of candidates is a good thing for our community - but there are some potentially pretty big sidebar (pardon the pun) issues that will ultimately have an impact on the race. 

County Court at Law #2 is the one race on the ballot were an incumbent is facing a challenger. The incumbent is Judge Julie Gonzalez. Her reputation in the legal community is that of the "hanging judge" of misdemeanor courts. If you don't get that reference, it means she's known for harsh punishments. She's facing a former prosecutor and judge. 

County Court at Law #3 is another open court with three candidates running for the seat. Two Latina candidates that are very similar on paper and one Latino candidate who is a great guy but picked a campaign team that is over-extended and apparently only invites people they like to their candidates' functions. A lot of their current and former candidates are pretty pissed about that. 

In this cycle, its really important to actually pay attention to the judicial races, especially considering our current District Attorney.