KUT Interview: Former State Supreme Court Chief Justice On Political Shift In Texas Appellate Courts

As per the Texas Constitution, judges in Texas who have been elected or re-elected officially take office on January 1. This past November saw quite a political shift in judges elected to the 14 Court of Appeals districts in Texas. Those are the courts that hear appeals from district courts. Four state appeals courts – in Houston, Dallas and Austin – changed from Republican control to Democratic control in the Nov., 2018 election. (Remember, judges are elected in Texas.) Nineteen incumbent Republican appellate judges lost. This all means that Democrats now hold majorities on half of the state’s 14 appeals courts. Former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson is a Republican who was appointed in 2001, elected in 2002 and named Chief Justice in 2004. He recently told KUT's Jennifer Stayton his concerns about this shift actually are not actually political. First, though, he gave a primer on the Texas court system and why judges are elected in Texas.