Judges Given Free Tickets By UT

Even the newest and lowliest state employee is taught to never accept a gift of any size from anyone with whom they may have official dealings, either now, or in the future. That's what makes this story so ridiculous. Now we have judges accepting favors from a state university.

Using the Texas Public Information Act, the Austin American-Statesman has learned that the University of Texas gave 280 free tickets and 169 discounted tickets to sitting judges. The tickets were for university football games in the 2001 through the 2005 seasons. Some of these judges sit on the highest courts in the state.

The judges are claiming they did nothing unethical. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks said, "It's a small favor for the time I know we, over here in the federal courthouse, give the university." Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Barbara Hervey said she accepted the tickets "to support the University of Texas as another state agency. I felt like they were doing a hospitable social thing by including members of state government." I think it would show more support for the school if she actually paid for her ticket.

Just what part of "don't accept gifts" do these judges not understand? It's not like there's no chance of the university ever appearing in their courts. Just the opposite. With a university as large as UT, it is likely that someday the university will appear as a litigant in these courts. That means that accepting the tickets was unethical. Jeffrey M. Shaman, an expert on judicial ethics, says, "It seems to me that something like this, particularly when you're talking about 30 or 40 tickets, which are worth a lot of money, is improper for a judge to accept. It looks as if the university is trying to curry favor with the judge, and it looks as if the judge is accepting this attempt to curry favor."

The practice of sitting judges accepting gifts from those who may appear in their courtroom is just plain wrong. The judges involved should decline any further gifts, and should reimburse the university for the tickets received in the past. It's impossible to believe in the impartiality of a judge that accepts gifts.