Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht is calling for a change in the way Texas judges, from Justice of the Peace to the State Court of Criminal Appeals, are selected, telling a joint session of the Legislature in his State of the Judiciary address that 'too many good and qualified judges lost their jobs last year, simply because voters preferred the Presidential candidate of the other party, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
"When partisan politics becomes the driving force, and the political climate is as sharp as our has become, judical elections make judges more political, and judicial independence is the casualty," Hecht said.
Judges of all levels are now elected in partisan contests, and many judges lose their offices in 'wave' elections, where people go to the polls and pull the lever for a straight ticket.
Hecht says that discourages qualified people from running for judge. They don't want to close a law practice or resign as an in house counsel and run for judge, only to lose their job in four years and have to start back at square one, simply because the popular candidate for President or Governor in the year their term is up is from the other party.
As much as 60% of the votes cast in last November's election were straight party votes.
"Removing judges from straight ticket voting would help some, and merit selection followed by non partisan retention elections would help more," he said.
There has also been concern over the years that political candidates for judge receive campaign contributions from the same lawyers who will practice before their court.
Hecht also urged a change in the way bail and fines are handled in Texas courts, saying current practices are turning county jails into debtors prisons.
He says twenty years ago, one quarter of all county jail inmates were in custody awaiting trial. Today, that number is a staggering three quarters, people who have not been convicted of any crime, and who simply cannot afford to make bail.
"Jailing criminal defendants who cannot pay their fines and court costs, commonly called debtors prison, keeps them from jobs, hurts their families, makes them dependent on society, and costs the taxpayers money."
He cited the case of a grandmother who was arrested for shoplifting $100 worth of clothes for her granddaughter sitting in jail for three months, because she couldn't make the $150,000 bond.
Hecht pointed out that it costs an average of $300 a day to hold a prisoner in a county jail, and he joked about the old adage of a parent punishing a child first saying 'this is going to hurt me more than it will hurt you.'
"But when taxpayers have to say to criminal defendants, 'this hurts us more than it hurts you', something's wrong."
Hecht said a disturbing number of Texans are jail simply because they can't pay their traffic tickets, something which costs local governments infinitely more than the ticket revenue.
Hecht also called for an initiative to lower the costs of the court system for Texans. He says not just the poor, but the middle class and small businesses today can be bankrupted by a legal action, and cannot afford to seek justice in the courts.
"There is a justice gap in this state," he said. "People who need legal services, lawyers who need jobs, and a market that can't move them together.
He added: "if justice were food, people would be starving, if justice were housing, people would be homeless."
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