ipl-logo

Partisan Elections For Judges Essay

504 Words3 Pages

Partisan Elections for Judges
Being a primarily Republican state, most Texas judges are also republicans. This is because judges in Texas are elected and voted upon by the public, not appointed. Most judges are initially appointed. The governor fills in vacancies in the judiciary with confirmation of the Senate. These appointees are then reelected, most often, with no opposition. Judges are removed only by failure to be reelected, by the Supreme Court due to incompetence, official misconduct, or negligence, or by impeachment by the House.

The Texas judicial system is complicated and confusing. Many Americans don’t understand the US Supreme Court, how then will they understand the smaller, state and local judicial system. A voter in Texas is asked to vote for many different candidates running from anything from …show more content…

A former chief justice from the Texas Supreme Court, Tom Phillips, said, “of the ways you can elect judges, Texas has one of the worst systems.” (Philips) Many people vote for the name or party that they recognize. Meaning that the better known the candidates name is, the more likely they will be voted for. Therefore the more money that is put into candidacy representation, the greater the chance that candidate will be elected. Between 1992 and 1997, “the seven winning candidates for the Texas Supreme Court raised nearly $9.2 million dollars.” (Judicial Campaigns) And out of that $9.2 million, more than 40% was contributed by parties or lawyers with cases before the court or by contributors linked to those parties.” (Judicial Campaigns) Money was donated to a judge’s candidacy, the judge got elected, and then the same companies or person that donated would show up in court with that judge. The judge would then almost always decide in favor of whoever donated to his candidacy. The Judicial Campaign Fairness Act was enacted in 1995, due to the immense amounts of money and scandals surrounding the Texas Supreme Courts

Show More
Related

The Plural Executive By Rick Perry: Governor Of Texas

805 Words | 4 Pages

Many of the issues go back to the civil war era, and during this time E.J. Davis was the governor of Texas. During his time as governor Davis used his power to and appointed over 8,000 public officials (Brown et al. 2014, p. 145). Many Anglo Texans have complained that during the time of Davis’s run as Governor he clearly abused the power that was given to him (Brown et al. 2014, p. 300). This was a big reason as to why the people of Texas wanted to limit the power that the governor can have.

Read More

Difference Between Texas Change Between 1996 And 1996

229 Words | 1 Pages

Since 1980, the Republican candidate, running for President, has received a high percentage of the vote in Texas, than he did nationally. However, the thing that has changed between 1996 and now, is that their is a different distribution in the vote for President within Texas. During the time between 1960 and 1992, the Big 6 counties (those counties that consist of the largest cities in Texas) carried the GOP Presidential candidate (Thornburn 168). The only exclusion to this was Johnson in 1964. Now in 1996, they have produced the lowest percentage of the vote for the GOP candidate.

Read More

Similarities Between The United States And Texas Constitution

417 Words | 2 Pages

The United States and Texas constitutions has the government broken into three different branches: the executive,legislative, and judicial branch. Each branch has its own power and job in deciding

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Gerrymandering

614 Words | 3 Pages

The Federal judge John Hannah stated “The dominant political party treated all member of the opposing party as if they were “enemies of the state” instead of the respected state leaders, many with a great wealth of government knowledge and ability that has and would inure to be benefit of Texas” (133). The issue is that voting in Texas is so racially divided; discriminating against Democrats is equivalent to discriminating against minorities. Democrats fought to keep their place in legislature by concentrating on individual officeholders during the redistricting process. Republicans, instead of undertaking the chore of encouraging minority voters, would rather overpower their ability to choose their own representation.

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of The Texas Elective System

171 Words | 1 Pages

but it is our choice about who we vote for. This is why I find it critical to challenge change maybe that one person can change the view on how we look at things. Maybe picking that one judge can change a bad ruling and make it right. Texas is one of the largest states in the United States maybe us having the elective system and make a change that would affect the world today. Keeping our political

Read More

Explain The Three Branches Of The Texas Constitution

807 Words | 4 Pages

In the state of Texas there are two courts of final appeal. The highest court for civil matters is the nine member Texas Supreme Court. The nine member Texas Court Criminal Appeals is for criminal matters. The number and variety of courts are confusing to the average citizen. The judges in these courts have only general qualifications who need not be lawyers and these judges are selected in a partisan election, which is a general election where the candidates are nominated by the political parties and their respective party labels appear on the ballot.

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Judicial Selection Methods

462 Words | 2 Pages

When people think of a good judge they typically think of somebody who is fair, not bias and has some sort of experience. However, in today’s society, particularly in the United States, our judicial selection methods are not made to select judges on their ability to reason well and rule impartially (Carter and Burke, 6). On top of that, judges have no actual training before they become part of the judiciary. The only training they receive is in school when they are studying the law. Sometimes when they pursue an apprenticeship with a judge they also get a little bit more experience or insight into a judge’s job.

Read More

Essay On Texas Judges

942 Words | 4 Pages

When you think about the word legal, equity rings a bell. Equity groups with decency and rationale, yet lamentably a few subtle elements shield the Judicial branch from being recently that. The legal branch comprises of the courts framework and the debating of the law. The head of particular court frameworks are judges, and these judges are to complete hearings with sacred decency. Unexpectedly, these judges are regularly not chosen into their positions on that same foremost of reasonableness.

Read More

Texas Lawsuit Reform Essay

470 Words | 2 Pages

This “tort tax” costs American consumers billions of dollars each year” (tortreform.com). Venue, which deals with the locality of a lawsuit. “when a plaintiff manipulates the system in order to file a lawsuit in one of these preferred venues- typically by adding parties to the case who have little or nothing to do with the matter in dispute-it is called venue shopping” (tortreform.com). These controversial issues are just few of the many others that have an effect for the people or in general, Texas. Many citizens in Texas do not stand for the Texas for Lawsuit Reform and are against the interest group itself.

Read More

Barriers To Voting In Texas Essay

646 Words | 3 Pages

You also have to take in consideration of Texas’ political culture. It is traditionalistic and individualistic. Lastly, there isn’t enough media coverage and attention. Voters do not know much about the candidates running for these positions (Champagne, Harpham, Casellas

Read More

Voter Participation In Texas Essay

680 Words | 3 Pages

Although Texas government is democratic, the rich and educated make most of the decisions according to Texas politics, 6th Edition. Government-refers to the institutions in which decision are being made that resolve conflicts or allocate benefits and privileges. Institution refers to an ongoing organization that performs certain functions for society. Another report by the National Bureau of Census shows that Texas is in the top 10% of citizens below poverty line. With such wealth inequality in Texas, is no wonder minorities tend to be less involved.

Read More

Essay On Texas Voting

605 Words | 3 Pages

Voting has become a big part of today because people want to see a difference or more of an improvement in the country. In Texas, just like in any other state, people are allowed to choose who they want to represent. Many elections are held each year, which showcases many ways of how people can vote. When results are demonstrated to the public, the data shows how many people voted. In areas of Texas, the voter turnout is not high compared to those in other states.

Read More

Argumentative Essay: Texas Death Penalty In The United States

932 Words | 4 Pages

To win any kind of election/re-election candidates must work to please voters. Here in Texas where a majority of people have a strong pro-death penalty stance, judges must also have a strong stance regarding the death penalty if they would like to remain in office. This is concerning because judges will be more likely to seek he death penalty for the convicted so they can create a record of toughness to win over voters. Some elected judges are sometimes of lesser quality than appointed judges in other states, but since they have a record of toughness everything else is thrown out the window. District attorneys also try to maintain a tough reputation as well.

Read More

Essay On Texas Government

944 Words | 4 Pages

The history of political parties in Texas is marked by nearly a century of Democratic Party dominance followed by a realignment that shifted the balance of power in favor if the republicans. Political science professor Cal Jilson noted that the dominance of one party in Texas has been a result of the state’s dominant values. Both parties in Texas today reflect more conservative versions of their national counterparts. The other chapter talks about the Interest groups in Texas. Interest groups plays a critical role in all democratic systems of government.

Read More

Essay On Judicial Selection

801 Words | 4 Pages

Judicial selection is an intriguing topic as there are multiple ways that judges take their seat on the bench. The United States Constitution spells out how federal judges are selected and leaves it up to the individual states to establish their means for selecting judges. In federal courts, judges are appointed and it varies between appointment and election for state courts. The purpose of this paper is to examine the differences between appointments and elections (as well as the multiple types of elections) and to give an opinion as to which is the better alternative. Federal judges are appointed by the President of the United States and are confirmed on the advice and consent of the United States Senate.

Read More

More about Partisan Elections For Judges Essay

Related Topics

Open Document