It’s been just over a year since we penned an editorial that concluded Judge Amber Givens, of Dallas County’s 282nd Judicial District Court, needed to leave the bench if she couldn’t improve her performance.
Unfortunately, news about her work only gets worse, and we must urge Dallas County’s Democratic voters to keep this in mind in the next primary cycle when she is up for re-election.
Earlier this month, our newsroom reported that Givens received a reprimand from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct for intervening in two cases where she had been recused. In one of those cases, she ordered a man into jail for 60 days despite the fact that she had voluntarily recused herself from his case.
How the judge decided it was appropriate to take action in these cases is baffling. We reached out to Givens for an explanation, but did not get a response to a message left with her court.
Opinion
Judicial reprimands are relatively rare. This is the second reprimand Givens received this month based on investigations of misconduct by the judicial conduct commission.
Defense attorneys credibly accused her of permitting her court coordinator to act as judge during a 2021 online bond reduction hearing where Givens did not appear on camera. Prosecutors in the case also believed Givens was not the person conducting the hearing and reported it to their supervisor.
Givens sent a sharply worded letter to District Attorney John Creuzot threatening to file a bar complaint against a prosecutor for daring to raise the concern. A Texas Rangers investigation turned up sufficient evidence to refer the matter for possible prosecution. The Kaufman County district attorney, who handled the matter, determined Givens’ actions were “unprofessional and improper” but did not rise to the level of criminal conduct.
As bad as these things are, the problem with Givens doesn’t stop there. As our board reported last year, Givens had scheduled more than 100 cases for jury trials on April 1, 2024. That’s ludicrous and an example of how poorly Givens has managed her docket over the years. In 2022, an administrative judge ordered dozens of felony cases transferred out of her court.
Givens repeatedly gets some of the lowest scores possible in the Dallas Criminal Defense Bar Association Judicial Survey. Such anonymous surveys are imperfect tools, but her scores are consistent and reflect what lawyers have told us off the record many times — that Givens is too often ill-prepared and ill-tempered.
Our justice system relies on good judges. But more so, in Texas, it relies on informed voters who understand who is making the grade and who isn’t.
Keeping up with every judge’s performance is impossible for the average voter. We get that. So we are asking those within earshot of this editorial to please, in this case, take our word for it.
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