Burnt Orange Report

CORRECTION!!!

David Van Os is running for Texas Supreme Court, NOT the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. He is running against Brister (a total right-winger), whom Perry nominated to the Texas Supreme Court.

Quick Lesson. Texas is one of two states (Oklahoma is the other) that has two different "courts of last resort" - one for civil and one for criminal.

The Texas Supreme Court is the final arbiter in matters of state civil law. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is the final arbiter of matters of state criminal law. (Of course, if a case decided by either of the foregoing courts, involves an issue of Federal law, the federal issue in the case, civil or criminal, may be reviewed by the US Supreme Court)

Thank you for the correction, I get those two mixed up all the time, since they're the courts of last resort.

And I was clearly asleep-at-the-keyboard when I was parsing through that.

As a trial lawyer who's tried two jury trials before Scott Brister when he was on the trial court bench here in Houston, I can vouch that he is very, very smart, very efficient, and very fair. If he had a major fault as a trial judge it was that he perhaps had too little patience for fools, regardless of their political or plaintiff/defendant orientation.

A good argument can be made that ex-Judge Moore of Alabama is a "nut," but that's an awfully loaded term to apply to Scott Brister, and it certainly isn't supported by the article you link to, Jim D. Nor do I know of any other basis to describe him as a "total right-winger," and indeed that's absolutely contrary to my first-hand experience with him.

Beldar,

My grandmother was once disturbed when a mental patient of hers said that she was "much more beautiful than Elizabeth Taylor." Apparently, my grandmother did not think much of Mrs. Taylor's looks, and told the story to my grandfather. His succint reply was, "consider the source."

So you don't think that Justice Brister is a right wing nut? Well, I consider the source.

Actually, in general, ad hominem attacks generally say more about the attacker than the target. I do agree that if one wants to have a well-informed opinion, one ought indeed to "consider the source" when evaluating others' expressions of opinions. When a source is anonymous, cites no facts whatsoever, and has no more substance to its argument than bare ad hominem attacks, that is indeed something worth considering in assessing its credibility.

Bedlar,

Ad hominem attack? Hardly. Of course, unless you consider being at the extreme conservative end of the politcal spectrum a badge of dishonor and ridicule. I will allow you to make that assesment.

In general, I do consider the source. All the time, I hear people talk about Judges and get all sorts of opinions about the same jurist. Obviously I have to take all of this with a grain of salt and consider the source. (E.g., when an insurance defense attorney blasts judges for not grating summary judgments, I invariably consider the source of the comment). In all candor, I do no consider you to have an unbiased opinion. You may not consider me to have an unbiased opinion either, and such is your right.

As an aside, I think conservatives in some of the larger counties (Harris, Dallas, Tarrant) have gotten so damn spoiled with very right wing conservative judges, that their whole opinion is skewed. Especially some of the younger attorneys who have never practiced before anything else. Of course the political tide is turning in the larger counties, and hence why Phillips (who has seen the trend) wants appointed judges (by Republican governors)

The issue, "WhoMe?", is whether you have any facts to back up your opinion that Judge Brister is a "a total right-winger," or whether Jim D. had any facts to back up his opinion that Judge Brister is "Texas's own 'Ten Commandments Nut." My original point was that the facts in the one link Jim D. provided don't support that opinion -- they show at most that Judge Brister may be personally religious and that there's not much else in common with his display of the Ten Commandments and Alabama ex-Judge Moore's.

Your original post, and your subsequent ones, add nothing except bile. I've never claimed, here or on my own blog, to be "unbiased." But you label me, for instance, an "extreme conservative" — notwithstanding my acknowledgement that "[a] good argument can be made that ex-Judge Moore of Alabama is a 'nut'" — and you're done, QED. Your method of argument offers no facts to justify categorizing me or Judge Brister, and ignores contrary facts (e.g., my extensive personal interaction with Judge Brister in two jury trials).

A conservative commenter who couldn't or wouldn't draw meaningful distinctions between, say, Howard Dean and Joe Lieberman would strike most readers of any political persuasion as being shallow, uninformed, and ultimately uninteresting. I respectfully suggest to you that your unsupported expressions of opinion in these posts regarding Judge Brister (or me for that matter) are equally shallow, uninformed, and uninteresting. Slapping on labels and calling names doesn't meaningful advance any political debate.

There are indeed "nuts" and extremists on both sides of the political spectrum. One thing they tend to have in common in fact is a tendancy to identify everyone who doesn't share their own extremism as being "extremists" for the opposing point of view. As a result, they end up persuading no one who's undecided, interested in facts, and capable of being persuaded by logical argument.

Beldar,

"Your original post, and your subsequent ones, add nothing except bile."

Well, if I have engaged in an ad hominem attack as you claim, at least I'm not the only one.

FYI, my information about Justice Brister do not come from rumor and innuendo, but from practitioners who have dealt with him. (It was no coincidence that he was handpicked by the Republican Supreme Court to be on the Asbestos MDL panel before being promoted to the S. Ct. - he is a judge who knows what his role is: i.e. do anything Baker & Botts and Union Carbide tell him to do.)

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