A scary story is unfolding about our courts. According to Statesman 3rd Court of Appeals Justice Jan Patterson who says Chief Justice Ken Law refuse to let her file a dissent in a politically charged case involving two associates of former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
Justice Jan Patterson, a Democrat, is asking the Texas Supreme Court to intervene. She claims that Law, a Republican who's up for re-election, blocked the filing of her dissent to last week's ruling on whether fellow Justice Alan Waldrop, also a Republican, should step aside in the money-laundering case involving DeLay's associates.
In addition to the controversy swirling around the 3rd Court of Appeals, Texans for Public Justice has filed a complaint echoing Justice Patterson's sentiment.
Texans for Public Justice filed a complaint with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct today alleging that Third Court of Appeals Justice Alan Waldrop should not have written an opinion in the criminal case against Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC) because his impartiality is questionable.
"Justice Waldrop's August 22 TRMPAC opinion reads like a 'Get Out of Jail Free Card' for Tom DeLay and his cronies," said Texans for Public Justice Director Craig McDonald. "As counsel for Texans for Lawsuit Reform in related civil litigation, Waldrop announced his bias in this matter years ago, dismissing the civil suit as 'politically motivated.' Waldrop should not have participated in this case."
The infighting in the 3rd Court is apparent. The Republicans seem to be shielding their friends and allies, while the Democrats appear to want justice. Democrat Diane Henson went so far as to ask for a full rehearing on the case. An unprecedented move in any circumstances.
Every day it becomes more and more clear why we need Woodie Jones on the bench. Luckily he is taking on Ken Law, and we can remedy these problems once and for all.
Texans are still living the ethical, political and economic nightmares left to us by former U.S. Rep Tom DeLay. Now, there's a fast-growing DeLay-related scandal darkening the already tainted reputation of Texas judges. Texas courts are dominated by the same special interests who purchased the legislature and the governor's mansion -- homebuilders like Bob Perry, anti-public school millionaire James Leininger, swift-boat finance captain Harold Simmons.
The sewers have backed up into Texas courtrooms. They need draining and cleaning. Sadly, it's not the special interests or their bought-and-paid for judges who are drowning in the unethical effluent of one-sided rulings that make a mockery of impartial justice. It's the people of Texas who suffer.
Before going on, let me say quickly that that not all Texas judges are lost in this swamp. There are good judges. There are courtrooms where fair trials still take place. God bless them. They know who they are, and the lawyers who practice in their courts -- and the citizens who seek justice there -- they also know fairness and impartiality when they see it.
Have judicial ethics in Texas fallen so far that it is considered proper for a judge to rule on a motion involving defendants he previously counseled in a case he criticized?
The answer is yes, judicial ethics have fallen that far. On Tuesday, as Laylan Copelin of the Statesman reported today, Travis County District Attorney formally asked Third Court of Appeals Judge Alan Waldrop to recuse himself from a money laundering case against two DeLay associates. Waldrop had represented Texans for Lawsuit Reform, a group implicated in the scandal, and criticized the criminal investigation and indictments in the campaign finance scheme. Now on an appeals court, he sits in judgment on the case
As we noted yesterday, Waldrop and his colleagues have received a good deal of money from people who'd like to see the criminal cases go away. After all, the alleged crimes -- the pursuit of which at least led to DeLay's resignation from Congress -- also led to the speakership of their errand boy, Tom Craddick, who hasn't been forced from office. Yet.
As we've seen, the corruption is not limited to the Third Court of Appeals. No, it's system wide. It's time for those who care about justice, who know that democracy depends upon it, to drain the swamp. Maybe, finally, DeLay will be pulled down the drain along with the rest of the ugly special interests who have nearly ruined our state.
"The dark shadow of corruption of our judicial system hangs over this case," Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle said Monday, referring to the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals opinion that Tom DeLay's money launderers didn't really launder money because they used checks. Drug dealers throughout the state can rejoice. Turn those street dollars into checks and, well, you're safe as a crooked politician.
Despite the fact that turning ill-gotten cash into checks is a favorite laundering tactic of drug dealers and political criminals alike, the court said checks aren't "funds" under Texas law, and so transactions involving them can't be prosecuted.
The case involves indictments against two of DeLay's associates in the notorious 2002 campaign financing scheme that also resulted in DeLay's indictment and forced resignation from Congress. Earle's strong comments came in an appeal of the bizarre, Alice-In-Wonderland 3rd Court opinion.
There is no better example of the sickening corruption that has infected the Texas Courts from top to bottom since they became dominated by special interests who also control the legislative and executive branches. The courts are out of balance, and the corruption so thoroughgoing, so accepted as business as usual, that it can be hard to grasp.
But it is destroying the rule of law here, denying average Texans access to justice as the elite special interests who bought these judges escape accountability and responsibility for the harm they do all of us.
