Waco Tribune: "...Linda Yanez and Sam Houston rate your vote on the Texas Supreme Court"

Texas Supreme Court: ... Linda Yanez (D) and Sam Houston (D)

Even as we still find voters amongst us who have absolutely no idea what the Texas Supreme Court does, the high court continues to handle important business in the matter of civil and juvenile cases on appeal. ...

Texans couldn’t ask for a more seasoned and reasoned judicial candidate than Democrat Linda Yanez. She’s our recommendation for Place 8 on the court. Yanez has been on the 13th Court of Appeals in South Texas since her appointment
by Gov. Ann Richards in 1993. She has run once before for the state Supreme Court. Yanez would bring needed philosophical diversity to an all-Republican court that largely is cut of the same cloth.

Her opponent, Justice Phil Johnson, was appointed by Perry in 2005. He is impressive and scholarly. It’s tough to recommend against an incumbent. But if the two were side-by-side without the benefit of incumbency, Yanez would be an easy choice.

In the contest for Place 7, the Trib recommends another non-incumbent, Democrat Sam Houston, a highly regarded Houston attorney. His opponent, Justice Dale Wainwright, was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2003.

Wainwright has drawn fire for contributing to a court backlog. A WFAA-TV report tagged him as the slowest member of a court that doesn’t always deliver on the promise of swift justice. Houston, one of Texas Monthly’s “super lawyers,” would bring needed philosophical diversity to the court.

We also encourage lawmakers to seriously review our current system of electing judges, especially in the sometimes fiercely partisan way we do. In particular, we salute some of the ideas of 160th District Judge Jim Jordan, the impressive Dallas Democrat running against Chief Justice Jefferson this year. He has made it his platform to take party politics out of the judicial process.

One method he proposes would have judicial elections in the spring, when non-partisan school board and city council elections are held. He encourages the Texas Supreme Court to push — and push hard — for these badly needed reforms. “I think the bench and the bar need to be in the lead on this,” he told the Trib editorial board. We agree. It’s high time we took party politics out of Texas’ high courts.