Merit Election Solution to Broken Judicial System

    Merit election solution to bro 
By Jom. Hilldn 
Special to the American-Statseman 

‘Sen. Rody Ellis made some excel- 
- lent points in his recent article (Nov, 19) 

. about the defects in our judicial election 
‘system. While I agree with him on the 
* nature of the problems, we disagree on 
 sesmeesssen the proper solution, 

PUBLIC 
partisan elections; I FORUM 

es want the Texas Plan for 
merit election, so our judges will be 
elected on merit instead of on how much 

- campaign money they can raise. We 
. beth want change and believe our re- 
gpective proposals are the way to go, 

+. Zen. Ellis made 12 points about the 
system: 

B® The system is not fair, smart or 
practical. 
¥ The system is broken. 
HW Voters are forced to cast their votes 
for judges on the basis of intuition, par- 
ty affiliation or vague name recognition. 

“8 We sometimes elect unworthy judges. 
- @ The current system deprives minority 

gle-member district, 

  

Sen. Ellis wants sin- 

  

voters of their right to fairly participate: 
BW We require voters to choose fret te } 

slates of candidates with whom they are 
only passingly, if at all, familiar. 
B A candidate for a judgeship is forced 
to raise vast sums of money from people 
and . organizatiors who subsequently | 
may come before the judge seexing to’ 
have their favors returned. 
B The conflicts of interest this creates 

strike to the very marrow of the integri- 
ty of our judiciary, 

®t is time for the beneficiaries of the 
court system to admit defeat and to 
work with the res: of us to create a judi- 
cial system Texans can respect. 
8 The system has proven its failure and 
lost its integrity. 
® We are trapped in a senseless system; 
we are held hostage by the forces of iner- 
tia and an entrenched and intransigeat 
group of people with personal interests 
at heart. 
BM There are alt:rnatives -that would 
solve all of these problems without tak- - 
ing away the public's right to participate 
in the selection of judges. 

Most of the other states have proven 

ee Nori 

an judicial system 

  

FAGE . 808] 

oN 
  

that the best method for solving sich’ 
problems is through the-establishment: 
of merit election. Under that i we in 
the people vote on. all: judges: — but. a 
screening process before each election: 
assures them. that: only ‘well-qualified 
candidates are on the ballot. «+ =u 

I hope the federal courts will leave the 
ultimate resolution of this matter to the 

people of Texas. 7 «it ; 

For my part, as rraidunt of “Texans 

for Judicial Election Reform,” I stand 

ready to work with Sen. Ellis and others 

toward accoraplishing that goal. We be- 

lieve our Texas Plan for merit election is 

by far the best solution but fully recog- 

nize that we must write into such a sys- 

tem provisions - which will give 

reasonable assurence that all qualified 
lawyers will have a fair opportunity to 

be considered for judgeship. 
We sincerely would welcome dialogue 

with Sen. Ellis and all other concerned 

citizens in an effort to develop a consen- 

sus Texas Plan that would be fair to all. 
  

Hilt is former chief justice of the Texas Su-:-=- 

preme Court and a former attorney general: 

    
  

  
 



    

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Tr Fonds his REE Ph a 
peal o the American-Statesman : 

The system be which we: elect jog 
in Texas is not fair, smart ‘or practical. 

"For these reasons, 1 agree with the 
analysis of U.S. District Judge Lucius 
Bunton: “Some fixing has to be dons, 
—— because the current sys- 

tem is broken.” 
PUBLIC Judge Bunton held in 
FORUM LULAC vs. Mattox 

that Texas” system’ of 

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electing ‘state district judges in urban 

counties county- -wide dilutes minority 

voting strength i in violation of the feder- 
ry: Aad TATE Vr evn and J Se, 

al Yoling nighis Fale TP JLEAG Lid 

counties have enough rainority voters to 
elect minority politicians from smaller 
areas, such as state representative dis-- 
tricts or city council districts, none has 
enough minority voters for the minority 
“gate tn have an impact on the county- 

wide election of judges.’ 

Currently, all 1.2 million voters in 
. Harris County vote on all 53 state dis- 
y- trict judges. While the minority vote mn 
; Harris County is significant, it does not 

constitute a majority. Since a majority. 
: is.required for each seat, there is no 

  

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  Luasniss that oy of the 5 Judges 

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etted willbe the choice of the salad 
community. Thus, only 4 of the district 

“judges elected in Harris County are mi- 

“norities (another; ‘Judge John Kyles, 

“was appointed by Gov. Ann” Richards 

this spring.) 

But the day is not toc far away whan 
African Americans and Hispanics will 
constitute a majority of the population 
of Harris County. Under the present 
system, it would then be possible for mi- 
norities to ¢lect the entire slate of candi- 
‘dates for the whole country. Think of it 
— all 59 judges would be black or brown. 
1 imagine many people find that possi- 
bility absolutely staggering. But it is 
equally staggering — and equally perni- 

cious and. discriminatory — that the. 
current system deprives minority voters 
of the right to participate in the selec- 

“tion of their fair share of judges. 
‘Our current system of electing judges 

Aisoriminatos porgirial all voter groung, 
(PES lyihanker ~ 

not just minorities. Despite the fact that 
almost half of the voters in Dallas Coun- 
ty are ‘Democrats, all but one of the 37 
district court judges elected there in re- 
cent years have Deen Hepublicans. 
When a bare majority of the elector- 

ate votes for the entire ticket of Repub- 
lican judicial candidates in Dallas 

  

County, hundreds of thousands of Dera 

  

  

  
       

      

~ocratic: voters are deprived of the ability - 
to select even a few of their 37 district 

}.~judges. In other counties,.the system 
“works equally unfairly against Republi- 
cans. It is not a partisan isstie or a racial - 
issue; it is an issue of equal participation 
in the political process. 

The system is not only unfair, it is im- 
practical. A judiciary which lacks the 
perspective of a significant segment of 
the community is doomed to failure. in 
the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes, 
“The life of the law~has not been logic: it 
has been experience.” 

It has other practical problems, as 
well. Harris County residents vote in no 
less than 150 different iudicial races 
over a six-year cycle. Even [, an elected 
official and attorney from Harris Coun- 
ty, find it difficult to keep up with ali. 
these different candidates. 

As a result, we sometimes elect un- 
rvbhir irlong Tha foi:lt Jo mak wath +ha 

RL anit J JIA SAE, Be - ART ACARALEY LD RAUL TFLVIL UALS 

voters, but with a system of electing 
judges that requires voters toc choose 
from long slates of candidates with : 
whom they are only passingly, if at all, 
familiar. © 
The dilemma these long ballots pose 

for voters is even worse for candidates, 
Faced with the need to pay for a massive 

- county-wide media campaign that is vis- 

  
  tricts 

ible enough to bs rented in. the 
ballot booth, a candidate is forced to 
raise vast sums of money from people 

© and organizations. whe - subsequently: 
- come before the judge seeking ¢o have 
their favors returned The conflicts of 
interest this creates strike to the very 
marrow of the integrity of our judiciary. 

In the past 25 years, as a result of the 
Voting Rights Act, we have seen revolu- 
tionary changes in the composition of 
government at all levels — except one. 
Now we have an opportunity to remedy 
not anly the system's discriminatory ef- 
fects but alsa its other, equally severe 

- defects. It is time for the beneficiaries of 
the current system te admit defeat, and 
iu Work with the resi of us io creaie a 
judicial system the people of Texas can 
respect. 

The problems with the Sater Sya- 
tem are not, as some would argue, inher- 
ent in ‘any avetem where jndges - are : 

elected rather than appointed. Fortu- 
1 . nately, there are alternatives that would - 

solve all of the problems with the pre- 
. sent system, without taking the public's 
rignt w participate m the selection of 
judges. 

One such altopnative would be to sub- 
divide the current multimember dis- 

into single-member districts, 

  

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wet would be apportioned with a 
" roughly equal number of voters in each 
- ‘district. Another alternative, .called 
“limited voting,” would allow voters to 

¢ . choose only a few candidates. from the 
entire countywide slate of candidates, 
with the top vote-geiters filling the open 
seats, 

‘Both systems onl reduce campaign 
costs, and allow voters io select people 
they know rather than names they rec- 
ognize. Most importantly, these alter- 
natives ensure that all of the different 
perspectives in the electorate are're- 
flected in a Guerse, and heterogenous 
judiciary. 

At present, we are mired in a tangle of | 
ot mm a maaan. 

lawsuits, - -LiGPpPTU in a SYSLCIN that . 

doesn't make sense, and held hostage to 
the forces of inertia and an entrenched 
and intransigent group of people with 
personal — rather than public — inter- 

ests at heart. 
Worgt of all “the taxpayers nf Toros ——— 

are. paying hundreds of thousands of 
dollars for the attorney general and his |. 
staff to defend this system in court. It is . 
o ovrotorn that hno rmaTTaTy Tho Foilviro Tred 
Rr EL Tl er ny 

its integrity, andi is unworthy of the peo 
ple of Texas. . : 
  

Rodney Ellis is a praciicing aitorney and a 

~ member of the Texas Senate from Houston. 

    

   

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