Waves of cash donations and prominent display of political party affiliation are harming Texas court elections

From Brennan Center:

An opinion piece in Tuesday’s edition of The Dallas Morning News advocated removing money and partisan labels from Texas’ judicial elections. The piece, by a staff writer, explained that in interviewing Texan judges, “one consistent cry has been that Texas sure has a lousy way to pick its judges.” Speaking about the role of money in these elections, the author says “[e]lecting judges, especially in statewide races like the Supreme Court, takes a ton of money” because “[j]udicial races are by nature low-profile, and candidates have to get the attention of voters from…everywhere [] in this massive state.”

This opens candidates up to criticism, because contributors are often “[t]he people whose livelihood is most directly affected by judicial decisions,” including “lawyers, law firms and their associations.” Supreme Court Justice Paul Green said: “Most people think that the system is corrupt, that judges’ decisions are affected by political contributions. For that reason alone, the system ought to be changed.” The author concludes that “[o]verhauling the way Texas picks judges won’t be easy, and it won’t be simple. But limiting the influence of money and partisan labels are good places to start.”