CHIEF JUSTICE BLACKLOCK'S PROPOSED JUDICIAL REFORM

The new Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice goes after judges like Gabby Garcia.  He sees such judges as obstacles to better wages for the judiciary. 

In terms of Gabby Garcia, the court of appeals has ordered her to appoint John Doe a new attorney. While this is good for John Doe, it verifies the court of appeals is not paying attention.  No attorney appointed by Gabby Garcia is going to argue John Doe should be allowed to withdraw his Plea Bargain based on fraud.

The motion to withdraw the plea bargain is denied as a matter of law after 75-days and is appealable.  Further until further order of the court the case is stayed other than Gabby Garcia complying with their order. 

Adult probation is out of control.  The case law is clear Adult Probation cannot order drug testing unless authorized by the court.  It is a § 1983 violation as a violation of the 4th Amendment.  Further the immediate destruction of the test results is a clear constitutional violation.  

Things are so bad, the court of appeals allowed Bobby Lerma to file a letter telling them John Doe should not be allowed to appeal Bobby Lerma's ineffective assistance of counsel.  He filed it ex parte.  We only know about it because they referenced the ex parte letter in an order.  This is the level of desperation of the Gabby Garcia criminal enterprise.  

In his speech I love when he says he does not want to hear from lawyers on how the reforms will hurt their bottom line. He understands making law very predictable, actually saves everyone money, and eats into the profits of lawyers. 

"Instead of holding down the salaries of 98% of our judges because 2% of them aren’t doing their job, we should use the power the Constitution gives us to make the 2% find another job—and we should pay all our judges a salary that is commensurate with the extraordinary responsibility our Constitution asks them to bear.

Now, I totally disagree with the 2%.  It is more like 50%.  I have long supported pay raises based on the following conditions:

We increase the number of years needed in practice before you can be a judge.

I support a system where judges are appointed by a nonpartisan committee, with a retention election every 4-6 years depending on the position.

As part of this I support a commission which creates a competency test along with credentials which then assign points to each candidate.

The commission would recommend the top 3 candidates for each position at the trial level, 4 top candidates for the court of appeals and 5 top candidates for the Texas Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeals.  Based solely on the qualifications of the candidate, without reference to political party, gender, race or any variable other than qualifications, a committee formed by the governor would choose the candidate. When it comes to the retention election, their record must be published for consideration by the people.  If they receive 60% of the vote, I would double the time of the next term. 

No political party affiliation should be used in a retention election.  Further, I would make it an ethics violation for any judicial candidate to make known their political party affiliation and in fact a basis for disqualification. In terms of the initial appointment, I would make recommendation by supporters to the governor to be an ethics violation. 

QUALIFICATIONS:

I would call a special session to start the process.  If you want an appointment to a county court, you should have to complete 30 hours of judicial studies.  For district court you should have to complete 45 hours of judicial study. For an appellate court you should have to complete 60 hours of judicial studies focused on appeals.  Finally for the Texas Supreme Court or Court of Criminal Appeals you have to complete 90 hours of judicial studies.

Sitting judges would have 2, 4, and 6 years to comply, respectively.  If they fail to comply, they will be removed from the bench and replaced by a qualified candidate.  Their grades in these mandated courses will be assigned points as part of their qualification application.

For the above I would raise judicial salaries to make us number 5 in the country instead of number 48.  The pay raises would only apply to appointed judges

Judge Gabby Garcia is so clueless as to the law or juridical methodology I highly doubt she would be able to complete the additional training needed to qualify as a judge.

She really has no idea what is coming her way.  She is so dependent on the corruption of the likes of Gilberto Hinojosa, and the court of appeals.

YOU CAN SEE THE CHIEF JUSTICE'S COMPLETE STATE OF THE JUDICIARY HERE.