Criticize the system

Regarding “Editorial: Texas Chief Justice Hecht is a champion of judicial reform. Now he's Exhibit A,” ( July 30): The inferences drawn by this newspaper’s recent criticism of Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht are unfair to him and the entire Texas judiciary. As a state, we cling to an outdated elections system that forces judges into politicking, then cry out when they must engage in the political process.

In 2020, the Judicial Fairness PAC ( JFPAC) conducted an independent expenditure campaign to re-elect four Texas Supreme Court justices. JFPAC scrupulously complied with Texas law, meaning no one from JFPAC or its contributors had any contact with the candidates or their campaigns.

Contributions to JFPAC are public record and reported to the Texas Ethics Commission as required by law. There is no evidence the judges knew about any contributions or expenditures prior to their public release, and it’s wrong to assert they had any bearing on the outcome of any case.

Moreover, focusing only on contributions from corporate defendants glaringly ignores regular contributions made to judges by plaintiff ’s firms. If we are concerned about campaign contributions impacting judicial decisions, we can’t overlook this.

Until Texas has a merit-based judicial selection system, we shouldn’t attack judges, PACs or contributors for lawfully participating in a system Texans have selected for themselves.

Lee Parsley, treasurer of the Judicial

Fairness PAC