Dems seek recusals in convention suit

Four Supreme Court judges are set to rule on fate of GOP convention that they sponsored

The Texas Democratic Party on Friday called for four of the state’s nine Supreme Court justices to recuse themselves from a case involving the Texas Republican Party’s in-person convention, claiming each had a conflict of interest.

The campaigns of Chief Justice Nathan Hecht and Justices Jane Bland, Jeffrey Boyd and Brett Busby each sponsored the convention, according to a list of sponsors that has since been removed from the Texas GOP’s website.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner canceled the event earlier this week, drawing a legal challenge from the party that is now before the Texas Supreme Court.

Texas GOP officials are seeking a writ of mandamus from the court that would block Turner from canceling the convention, a day after a Harris County judge denied the party’s attempt to do so in state district court.

Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said the four justices are “faced with an obligation to do the right thing and choose the law over political allegiance.”

“A justice who funds a dangerous convention should not judicially decide the fate of that same convention,” Hinojosa said in a statement. “All four have interests in the case coming before them and all four should recuse.”

In its petition filed Friday, the Texas GOP alleged that Turner canceled the convention “because of politics,” violating the constitutional rights of attendees. The party also argued that Turner inappropriately invoked the “force majeure” clause of the contract between the party and Houston First, the city’s public nonprofit that operates the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Turner said the clause allows one side to cancel over something out of its control, including “epidemics in the City of Houston.” The party argued in its petition Friday that Turner must show that his “chosen measures are absolutely necessary and could not be

achieved by less restrictive means.”

The Democratic Party said the four justices should recuse themselves under a part of Texas’ Rules of Civil Procedure that says a judge “must recuse in any proceeding” in which their “impartiality might reasonably be questioned,” or if the judge “has a personal bias or prejudice concerning the subject matter or a party.”

Jared Woodfill, an attorney for Houston Republican activist Steve Hotze, also filed a petition for a writ of mandamus with the Supreme Court Friday. Hotze and several other activists challenged Turner’s decision to cancel the convention Thursday, hours before the Texas GOP’s lawsuit, but a judge denied their request for a temporary restraining order.

The Supreme Court on Friday requested a response to both petitions, giving the defendants a deadline of 5 p.m. Saturday.