In the News

A computer glitch caused nearly 300 Houston-area defendants to be released because they were unable to have an initial court appearance in time according to state law.

The adversarial legal system—in which both sides of a dispute are represented vigorously by attorneys with a vested interest in winning—is at the heart of the American constitutional order. Since time immemorial, law schools have tried to prepare their students to take part in that system.

Not so much anymore. Now, the politicization and tribalism of campus life have crowded out old-fashioned expectations about justice and neutrality. The imperatives of race, gender and identity are more important to more and more law students than due process, the presumption of innocence, and all the norms and values at the foundation of what we think of as the rule of law.

Dallas County voters may be disappointed to learn that 13 judges or judicial candidates owe the state money for not filing timely campaign finance reports. The fact remains, judges are elected officials and hold responsibility for following campaign laws correctly.

In a letter to the appeals court dated Feb. 28, the judge made clear his priority in managing the opioid litigation was driving settlements, not trying cases. He also said he needed to protect the private plaintiff lawyers that state and local officials hired on a contingency-fee basis to litigate these cases, saying they have advanced “all litigating costs and expert fees – hundreds of millions of dollars so far.” “Unless I took aggressive measures to manage and control this litigation, many of these firms could be jeopardized,” the judge wrote. Plaintiff law firms are in many cases funded by third parties, including hedge funds, that take on the risk of failure in exchange for a substantial share of any legal fees. Under a $26 billion settlement with the three main drug distributors plus Johnson & Johnson, those financiers stand to be amply rewarded; some $2 billion of the settlement money will flow to plaintiff law firms.

Judicial candidates must regularly report their campaign fundraising to the state commission — a step open government advocates call critical to ensuring judges’ impartiality and transparency. State law requires candidates report to the state and to voters who donated to their campaigns. But a weak enforcement system means candidates face few penalties for failing to report who is giving them money and how much.

Roy Pearson, a former infamous D.C. judge, wanted more than three years’ worth of extra rent paid, triple damages and to submit additional evidence of damages. The Court of Appeals refused on March 3.

A Dallas County judge who is facing a May runoff to retain her seat received a second reprimand for her inadequate conduct on the bench. The State Commission on Judicial Conduct cited her treatment in court falls below the standard required of judges.

A San Antonio personal injury lawyer Thomas J. Henry can no longer advertise a $1.25 billion “verdict/judgment” that he secured for an alleged sexual assault victim without disclosing that the client didn’t actually get anything. In response to a Henry billboard trumpeting the verdict, the Texas Supreme Court recently amended a rule on lawyers’ advertising. It now requires attorneys who obtained a verdict but never collected anything to disclose that fact.

For decades, Republicans have railed against frivolous lawsuits and litigation, blaming them for driving up costs for businesses and governments. But this year, Florida Republicans are turning to trial lawyers, one of their historic foes, to help enforce their agenda.

Six criminal court judges elected during the 2018 blue wave lost to party rivals in Tuesday’s primary election, leaving the path to the November midterms uncertain as bail and the courts’ backlog dominate the conversation about Harris County’s beleaguered criminal justice system. “Sometimes really good judges get unseated for reasons that have nothing to do with their abilities or job performance as judges,” he continued. “That’s one of the effects of having judges elected — and having an open primary.”