Here’s how 2 state propositions on the Nov. 4 ballot could impact Texas’ justice system

If voters approve Proposition 12, Abbott will select more than half of the 13-member SCJC.

Currently, the commission includes six judges appointed by the state Supreme Court, five citizens appointed by the governor and two attorneys appointed by the State Bar of Texas. Under Proposition 12, the commission would consist of:

• Seven governor appointees, who would not be judges but could be lawyers or state employees
• Six Supreme Court appointees, two of whom would be trial court judges

Lawmakers adopted Proposition 12 with bipartisan support, although it faced pushback from some House Democrats. Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, said May 25 that he was concerned that allowing the governor to appoint a majority of commissioners would politicize the nonpartisan judicial conduct commission and give Abbott more power to remove from office judges whom he does not agree with.

“[The judicial branch] is supposed to be independent from us, supposed to be independent from the executive branch,” Wu told House members May 25. “All judges are forbidden from taking political stances and doing those kinds of things because ... they're supposed to be impartial. But here we are injecting politics into it, giving the governor more and more power.”

During House floor debate May 25, Wu, an attorney, said the Senate rarely rejects Abbott’s appointments. This could be because “these senators are afraid of contravening” the governor, he said.

“Having been a former judge himself, former Supreme Court justice, former attorney general, I think that the governor, when it comes to the judicial system and the appointments that he's made ... all across the state, [they] have been resoundingly positive and successful,” bill sponsor Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano said May 25, noting that Abbott has appointed both Republicans and Democrats to state courts.

The SCJC does not list its members’ political affiliations online.

Rep. Janis Holt, a first-term legislator from Silsbee and a former member of the SCJC, said May 25 that the proposition would ensure “judges are held to the highest standards of integrity, transparency and timeliness.” Abbott appointed Holt to the commission in 2019, and she said she resigned in 2024 to become a state lawmaker.

One more thing

Lawmakers said Proposition 12 would also increase transparency into judicial misconduct investigations and speed up the process for commissioners to address complaints against Texas judges.

“The product that is coming out of the state commission on judicial conduct is not what it should be,” Rep. Mitch Little, R-Lewisville, said May 25. “Often complaints that are going unresolved for extended periods of time and judges are not facing discipline for things that they do that are wrong. There is no public accountability.”

If voters approve the proposition, the commission will have the authority to issue one “private admonition, warning, reprimand [or] censure” for judges who commit noncriminal offenses, according to the legislation. Additional sanctions must be issued publicly, with the possibility of a formal hearing to determine if a judge should be removed from their seat.

Little, an attorney, told House lawmakers May 25 that much of the commission’s proceedings currently take place behind closed doors, with “no way to know what is going on inside that commission.”

“[Proposition 12] brings sunlight to a process that too often operated in the shadows,” Holt said. “By requiring public notice of certain reprimands, by mandating annual reports on judicial performance and by creating a statewide judicial directory, we are making the system more transparent, more accountable and more accessible to the people it serves.”