Justice statue with scales.
Early voting on 17 proposed Texas constitutional amendments continues through Friday of this week. One of the proposed amendments would grant the governor significant new powers when it comes to disciplining or even dismissing elected judges.
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct is an independent agency run by a mix of 13 members — six judges appointed by the Supreme Court of Texas, two attorneys appointed by the State Bar of Texas, and five citizens appointed by the governor. Proposition 12 would let the governor name a majority of the commission’s members.
Gov. Greg Abbott said the change is necessary to ensure transparency and accountability. But John Domino, a professor of political science and legal studies at Sam Houston State University, warned such a change would risk compromising judicial independence.
“I believe that any attempt at so-called accountability and transparency is just an attempt to be able to push and pressure judges in some way and intrude upon independence,” Domino said. “The argument against all of this is that even though it’s just tweaking the size and nature of this commission, it is intervening in decisions that should be made by legal professionals.”
Domino notes that, in 2019, Abbott removed two of the commission members who acted against Abbott’s wishes by voting to discipline a Waco justice of the peace who refused to perform same-sex marriages, in defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges.
“That’s what voters should know,” Domino said. “The institutional changes seem minor, but if people are reminded of the origin of all of this, they can better understand that it’s really there’s partisan politics involved.”