Being independent politically, I tend to look for political issues where the right position is so clear that advocacy of the opposing view is an indication of a politician who is interested in something other than improving government. This Chronicle article addresses one such issue — Texas’ utterly unsupportable system of electing judges. This earlier Daily Texan article does the same.
Texas’ system of judicial elections is, at best, not a good way to choose judges and, at its worst, a corrupt one. Along with former Texas Attorney General and state Supreme Court Justice John Hill, former state Supreme Court Justice Tom Phillips and many others, I have been supporting for over 20 years a new system for appointing judges in the Texas state courts similar to the appointment process that is used in the federal judicial system. This is not to say that the system in which federal judges is selected is perfect and does not generate a bad judge from time to time. But the risk of a bad judge reaching the bench in the federal system is far less than it currently is under the Texas system of judicial selection.

Although a growing number of Texans agree that elections are not the best way to choose judges, the tendency in Texas politics is for the party in control of the statehouse to support the current system because most of the elected judges are from that party. Inasmuch as the Republicans are now solidly in control of Texas state government, the GOP state leaders are in no hurry to change even a flawed system so long as it produces judges mainly from their party.
That is unfortunate. Virtually no Texas citizen knows all of the best candidates for the various judicial positions. For example, even though I have an active civil trial practice in both Harris and Montgomery Counties, I rely on the opinions of friends who practice criminal law to advise me regarding the best candidates for the criminal judgeships because I do not practice much in the criminal courts. Moreover, most lawyers are not trial lawyers, so even they have no or little experience on which to base an informed judgment about the best judicial candidates. Generally, lay people do not have the foggiest notion of who to select in Texas judicial races. Most folks simply look for a familiar name or two, sigh, and just make the best guess possible under the circumstances. Not exactly a sterling example of democracy at work.
Finally — and perhaps most telling — few of the best state court judges in Texas support the system. Few, if any, of the good judges enjoy the tedious and unbecoming process of soliciting campaign funds from the lawyers and law firms who practice in their courts. Moreover, the bad judges often favor attorneys who contribute to their campaigns and build huge campaign war chests that creates a disincentive for any good challenger to mount a campaign. Finally, as we have seen during the recusal motions in the Tom DeLay prosecution, the political affiliations of the judges often undermines not only the efficient administration of justice, but the public’s perception of the integrity of the judicial system altogether.
Thus, this is one of those issues where — regardless of your political affiliation — the right answer is clear. Only a politician who is more interested in maintaining power than in improving the administration of justice would support the current flawed system. In that connection, please take note from the Chronicle article the position of Texas Governor Rick Perry regarding the issue — he supports the current system.