More Texas Supreme Court Unethical Behavior

Are there any honest Republicans on the Texas Supreme Court? I'm beginning to wonder. Last week it was David Medina. He and his wife were indicted in the arson burning of their home in the Houston area -- his wife for arson and he for tampering with evidence. He was saved from that charge by the ethically deficient District Attorney of Harris County, who threw out the indictments.

Then it was learned that Medina was using thousands of dollars a month from his campaign funds to reimburse himself for commuting to and from Austin. You'd think a Supreme Court Justice would know better, since the Ethics Commission declared this verboten back in the 90's. Medina admitted his ethical lapse, and is in the process of repaying his campaign fund supposedly.

Then we learn that another Justice on the court was guilty of the same thing -- Justice Paul Green. But Green is not being so honest about his ethical blunder. He is still trying to justify the payments from his campaign fund. He says the trips between Austin and San Antonio were for "business purposes". Looks like he wants to keep the illegal payments.

Now we learn that a third Justice has been dipping into the campaign funds for personal use -- Nathan Hecht. Hecht (pictured above) admits using campaign funds to pay for dozens of plane trips to his hometown last year. Hecht also wants to keep the cash, because he's claiming the trips were "campaign trips". That's kind of hard to believe since he's not up for re-election until 2012.

This is not Hecht's first trip into unethical behavior. He is still being investigated for soliciting and accepting funds from people who appear before the court. How's that for giving an impression of "justice for sale"?

I'm almost afraid to read the paper tomorrow, wondering who'll be next.

Justice Hecht Violates Judicial Code

The problems just keep piling up for Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht. First he abuses his office by promoting an ex-girlfriend (Harriet Miers) for a position on the U.S. Supreme Court. Then he compounds the wrongdoing by accepting a huge discount on his legal defense fees.

The law says a judge can solicit funds for his defense fees, but those donations cannot exceed $5,000 from an individual or $30,000 from a PAC or firm. His discount in legal fees was over $100,000. Texas Watch filed a complaint with the Commission on Judicial Conduct, the Travis County D.A.'s office and the Texas Ethics Commission, claiming the discount violated the law.

But as unethical and possibly illegal as the discount was, Justice Hecht did something else that could cast a dark shadow on the entire Texas Supreme Court and any decisions they might make.

Unbelievably, he solicited funds for his defense from attorneys and firms that regularly practice law before the Texas Supreme Court. What the hell was he thinking? This action taints any decision the Court might make when any of these attorneys or firms appear before them. Whether there is wrongdoing or not, there will always be a perception that Justice Hecht's vote was bought.

There is already a perception that the Republican court has been bought and paid for by the huge corporations. The court simply cannot stand to add Justice Hecht's wrongdoing to this already tainted perception.

On Tuesday, Texas Watch filed another complaint against Hecht with the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct. This time they are charging him with violating the Code of Judicial Conduct by soliciting funds from attorneys who appear before the court.

There is a precedent for the charge. In 1987, the commission admonished Justice William Kilgarlin for doing the same thing exactly. How could they find differently in Hecht's case?

Once again, I call for the resignation of Justice Nathan Hecht from the Texas Supreme Court. Whether he is found guilty or not, his unethical actions have put a black mark on the court which can only be erased by his removal.

Justice Hecht Shows New Ethical Lapse

Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht got himself in some legal and ethical trouble a while back. He used his position on the state court to back his one-time girlfriend, Harriet Miers, for a position on the United States Supreme Court. Turned out that wasn't exactly kosher, and he racked up over $300,000 in legal fees defending himself.

He tried to get the legislature to pay his legal fees for him, but when the legislature found out what else he was doing that turned out to be too much even for the Republicans. The legislature dropped the bill.

What was he doing? He was begging for donations from private sources. This might have been alright, except those private donations came in large part from huge law firms -- law firms that regularly appear before the Texas Supreme Court.

Amazing! Did it never occur to him that at the very least, this had the appearance of serious impropriety? How can he hear cases presented by attorneys who have donated thousands of dollars to get him out of trouble?

It certainly looks like he is covering one ethical lapse by creating another. Judge Hecht is an embarrassment to Texas and to its Supreme Court.

It is time for Judge Hecht to resign before he damages what little credibility the Republican-controlled court has left.