Kelly for Place 8
Justice Peter Kelly of the 1st District Court of Appeals in Houston is our choice between two very qualified candidates in the Democratic primary for Place 8 on the Texas Supreme Court.
Both Kelly and his opponent, Justice Gisela Triana of the 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin, have served a little over a year as appellate court judges — so it is their experience prior to their election in 2018 that is the best gauge for voters in assessing what kind of Supreme Court justice they will make. And on that basis, we find Kelly’s decadeslong career as an appellate lawyer, one who has argued roughly 30 cases before the court he now wishes to join, a stronger indicator of success than Triana’s impressively diverse career as a trial court judge.
As Kelly noted in our interview with the two candidates, “the Supreme Court is a wholly different animal” than lower courts. The top court decides what the law is, and in cases where that’s not clear, what it should be. Lower courts, especially trial courts but also intermediate ones, are bound strictly by previous decisions of the Supreme Court or Court of Criminal Appeals.
Triana argues that her experience as a district court judge as well as previous service as a justice of the peace and municipal court judge grants her perspective few other senior judges have. Indeed, she says she’d be the first Texas Supreme Court justice to have served as a judge in every level of trial court.
We admire her track record, and support her determination to bring balance to the court that has long been dominated by Republican justices.
But Kelly’s expert grasp of the particular nuances of how the top court works, and where the opportunities will be for a new justice to influence the law in Texas, gives us the most confidence in urging Democratic voters to choose him. Even in our brief meeting, he demonstrated a persuasive manner that will be more likely to attract justices, even the deeply conservative Republicans now on the court, to give his views a hearing.
Democrats are lucky to have two qualified choices in this race, but we urge them to vote for Kelly.