Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht delivered his State of the Judiciary address to the Texas Legislature this week, where he expressed concerns over the loss of legal experience in the November election.He’s concerned about the way the state will choose members of the bench in future elections, after seeing straight-ticket voting cost the state seven-centuries of judicial experience.More than 400 judge in the state lost their seats during midterm voting.
Justice Hecht suggested a panel appoint judges based on experience and history, then let voters decide whether to retain them in the next election cycle.
During the address, Hecht told a joint session of the State Legislature, “ When partisan politics is the driving force and the political climate is as harsh as ours has become, judicial elections make judges more political, and judicial independence is the casualty.”
Justice Hecht added, “ The Texas Judiciary is committed to upholding the law, to getting every case right, to operating efficiently, to searching out and adopting improvements and reforms, to making all our processes advance the precious cause of justice.”