by Carol Sims | Apr 18, 2013 | Uncategorized
Retired Chief Justice Jack Pope, who as a justice on the Texas Supreme Court had a judicial tenure longer than any justice in the Court’s history, turns 100 Thursday and will be honored in a ceremony in the Texas House of Representatives. State Rep. Dan Branch, who worked for Chief Justice Pope as a law clerk in 1983-84, will read from a concurrent resolution Branch sponsored. The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 1:05 p.m. At 100, Pope is the longest living state chief justice in U.S. history and appears to be the first to reach 100. “This occasion is a milestone, for Chief Justice Pope and for Texas,” Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson said. “But this is more than a birthday celebration. This is an event to honor one of the country’s great legal legends.” Click here at 1 p.m. Thursday for live video stream from House. Link to tribute on the Court’s website. Pope’s 38-year tenure as a Texas jurist is notable for his lasting imprint on state water rights, for accomplishing formal judicial education for Texas judges, for advocating a voluntary judicial-ethics code when judges had none and for succeeding in making that code mandatory and enforceable, and for streamlining and simplifying how cases are pleaded and tried. Chief Justice Pope’s career as a judge began with his appointment to a district court bench in Nueces County in 1946, at 33 then the youngest district judge in the state. When voters elected him to the San Antonio Court of Civil Appeals in 1950 he was the first justice on that court from south of San Antonio....
by Carol Sims | Mar 28, 2013 | Uncategorized
The Senate State Affairs Committee will hear two approaches to judicial selection reform at its hearing on Monday, April 1. SJR 34 and SB 577 by Sen. Robert Duncan (R-Lubbock) establish an “appoint-elect-retain” system for selecting state district and appellate judges and justices. Under the proposal, a judge or justice would initially stand for office in a partisan election, followed by periodic retention elections thereafter. In the event of a vacancy, the gubernatorial appointee would run in the next general election in a partisan ballot, with subsequent retention elections. TCJL has historically supported this approach as the best way to balance the public policy objectives of an independent, accountable, and qualified judiciary and will register support at Monday’s...
by Carol Sims | Mar 6, 2013 | Uncategorized
The Judicial Compensation Commission (JCC) was created in 2007 by the 80th Texas Legislature through the passage of H.B. 3199, “to recommend the proper salaries to be paid by the state for all justices and judges of the supreme court, the court of criminal appeals, the courts of appeals, and the district courts.” The Commission is required to take into consideration several factors, “most importantly, the level of overall compensation adequate to attract the most highly qualified individuals in the state, from a diversity of life and professional experiences, to serve in the judiciary without unreasonable economic hardship and with judicial independence unaffected by financial concerns.” Report to the Legislature, November 30,...
by Carol Sims | Mar 4, 2013 | Uncategorized
You should! The decisions of Texas courts affect you, your family, and your job every day. The state’s appellate courts interpret laws that affect: prices of goods; utility bills; taxes; insurance premiums; medical bills; your job; your kids; your healthcare; your estate; and many other aspects of your daily life. Learn who the candidates are. Read news articles. Review available campaign material – with a grain of salt. Talk to your family, friends, co-workers, and other people you respect. Make an informed choice when casting your...
