The three Republican incumbent justices on the November 2008 ballot raised a total of almost $1.6 million for their reelection campaigns through the end of June 2008. The justices took 65 percent of this money from courtroom contributors who had recent business before the same justices. The justices’ dependence on courtroom contributions ranged from a low of 60 percent for Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson to a high of 71 percent for Justice Dale Wainwright. The Democrats challenging these justices (see the next section) raised a total of $722,167, taking 69 percent of it from lawyers and litigants who had recent business before the Texas Supreme Court.

 

Three Incumbents Took 65 Percent
of Their Campaign Funds From Courtroom Contributors

Justice Seeking Reelection In Nov. 2008	Total Raised Jan. ‘07 To July ’08	Total Courtroom Contributions	Courtroom Funds As Share of Total	Democratic Challenger
Wallace Jefferson* (R)	$661,219	$396,420	60%	Jim Jordan
Phil Johnson (R)	$473,683	$306,371	65%	Linda Yañez
Dale Wainwright (R)	$450,718	$320,450	71%	Sam Houston
TOTALS:	$1,585,620	$1,023,241	65%

               *Chief Justice.

The justices’ heavy reliance on courtroom contributors is all the more troubling given the court’s record of favoring the corporate defense interests that bankroll the justices’ campaigns. A recent law review article found that defendants prevailed in 87 percent of the 69 opinions that the Texas Supreme Court issued in tort cases in 2004 and 2005.¹⁰ That study also analyzed who benefited and who lost when the Supreme Court rejected petitions to review tort cases in 2004. These rejections benefited defendants 75 percent of the time. 

 

Governor Rick Perry first appointed Wallace Jefferson to a Supreme Court vacancy in 2001. Governor Perry then picked Justice Jefferson for yet another vacancy in 2004, when Chief Justice Tom Phillips retired mid-term. Voters elected Chief Justice Jefferson to finish the last two years of that term in 2006. Jefferson worked at Groce Locke & Hebdon until 1991, when he helped found Crofts Callaway & Jefferson. That firm, now Crofts & Callaway, has given $2,750 to the reelection campaigns of the three incumbent justices. Crofts & Callaway attorneys have had 47 matters before their former partner’s court since 2005.

 

Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson’s
Top Courtroom Contributors

Total Amount	Courtroom Contributor	Interest
$24,620	Vinson & Elkins LLP	Law Firm
$21,250	Haynes & Boone LLP	Law Firm
$17,650	Fulbright & Jaworski LLP	Law Firm
$16,000	Brock Person Guerra Reyna	Law Firm
$15,750	AT&T, Inc.	Communications
$15,500	United Services Automobile Assn.	Insurance
$15,000	Bickel & Brewer	Law Firm
$12,500	Davis Cedillo & Mendoza, Inc.	Law Firm
$11,500	Cantey Hanger Roan & Autrey	Law Firm
$10,750	Thompson & Knight LLP	Law Firm
$10,000	Andrews & Kurth LLP	Law Firm
$10,000	Texans For Lawsuit Reform	Anti-Liability business group
$9,000	Baker Botts LLP	Law Firm
$6,500	ExxonMobil Corp.	Energy/Natural Resources
$6,250	Bracewell & Giuliani LLP	Law Firm
$6,000	Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld	Law Firm
$6,000	Beirne Maynard & Parsons	Law Firm
$6,000	McGinnis Lochridge & Kilgore	Law Firm
$5,750	Strasburger & Price	Law Firm
$5,500	Winstead PC	Law Firm
$5,350	Jackson Walker LLP	Law Firm
$5,000	Hughes & Luce LLP	Law Firm
$5,000	King & Spalding LLP	Law Firm
$5,000	William D. Noel, Attorney at Law	Law Firm
$5,000	PAJ, Inc.	Jewelry
$5,000	Pfizer, Inc.	Pharmaceuticals
$5,000	Thompson Coe Cousins & Irons	Law Firm

 

 

Governor Rick Perry tapped then-7th Court of Appeals Chief Justice Phil Johnson to fill a Supreme Court vacancy in 2005. The following year voters elected Justice Johnson to finish that now-expiring term. Before his election to the Amarillo-based appeals court in 1998, Johnson was a partner at Lubbock’s Crenshaw Dupree & Milan. Attorneys at this firm—which has had nine matters before the Supreme Court since 2005—contributed $2,250 to Johnson’s current reelection campaign. An earlier Texans For Public Justice study found that lawyers and law firms accounted for 68 percent of the money that Justice Johnson raised for his 7th Court of Appeals campaign in 2002.11

 

Justice Phil Johnson’s
Top Courtroom Contributors

Total Amount	Courtroom Contributor	Interest
$22,422	Vinson & Elkins LLP	Law Firm
$20,450	Haynes & Boone LLP	Law Firm
$16,250	Fulbright & Jaworski LLP	Law Firm
$11,000	Thompson & Knight LLP	Law Firm
$10,500	United Services Automobile Assn.	Insurance
$10,350	Bracewell & Giuliani LLP	Law Firm
$10,000	Andrews & Kurth LLP	Law Firm
$10,000	Jackson Walker LLP	Law Firm
$9,500	King & Spalding LLP	Law Firm
$8,000	Locke Liddell & Sapp LLP	Law Firm
$7,500	Baker Botts LLP	Law Firm
$6,000	Cantey Hanger Roan & Autrey	Law Firm
$5,500	Winstead PC	Law Firm
$5,250	McGinnis Lochridge & Kilgore	Law Firm
$5,000	Beirne Maynard & Parsons	Law Firm
$5,000	Bickel & Brewer	Law Firm
$5,000	BP Capital	Energy/Investments
$5,000	ExxonMobil Corp.	Energy/Natural Resources
$5,000	Hughes & Luce LLP	Law Firm
$5,000	Strasburger & Price	Law Firm
$5,000	TX Assn. of Defense Counsel	Attorney trade group
$5,000	Thompson Coe Cousins & Irons	Law Firm
$5,000	TRT Holdings, Inc.	Energy/Investments
$4,500	Texas Civil Justice League	Anti-Liability business group

 

 

Justice Wainwright is facing his first reelection campaign after voters elected him to his first high-court term in 2002. Then-Governor George Bush appointed Wainwright to a vacant Harris County district judge seat in 1999. Wainwright’s former employers—Haynes & Boone and Andrews & Kurth—rank among the top courtroom contributors to his reelection campaign. Haynes & Boone has had 77 matters before the Supreme Court since 2005 and Andrews Kurth had 66.

The Houston Chronicle recently reported on a campaign fundraiser that Justice Wainwright held in September 2008—after the period covered in this report.¹² Yet some of the sponsors of that event already had established themselves as courtroom contributors. These sponsors—who do business before the court and finance its political campaigns—include: AT&T, Inc. ($15,750 to current Supreme Court campaigns); the Texas Civil Justice League ($13,500); Pfizer, Inc. ($6,000); Koch Industries ($5,500); and American Electric Power ($1,000). George Christian, who heads the Texas Civil Justice League, an anti-liability business group, said his group is constantly sending checks and briefs to the justices. Referring to the tawdry nature of Texas’ judicial-selection system, Christian told the Chronicle, “It ain’t pretty.”

Justice Dale Wainwright's
Top Courtroom Contributors

Total Amount	Courtroom Contributor	Interest
$23,450	Haynes & Boone LLP	Law Firm
$16,450	Fulbright & Jaworski LLP	Law Firm
$12,500	Vinson & Elkins LLP	Law Firm
$10,600	Bracewell & Giuliani LLP	Law Firm
$10,500	Jackson Walker LLP	Law Firm
$10,000	Andrews & Kurth LLP	Law Firm
$10,000	Texans For Lawsuit Reform	Anti-Liability business group
$10,000	United Services Automobile Assn.	Insurance
$10,000	Zachry Construction Corp.	Construction
$9,500	King & Spalding LLP	Law Firm
$9,000	Baker Botts LLP	Law Firm
$7,750	McGinnis Lochridge & Kilgore	Law Firm
$7,500	Fisher Boyd Brown Boudreaux…	Law Firm
$6,750	Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld	Law Firm
$6,250	Thompson & Knight LLP	Law Firm
$6,250	Graves Dougherty Hearon & Moody	Law Firm
$6,000	Abraham Watkins Nichols Sorrells…	Law Firm
$5,500	Locke Liddell & Sapp LLP	Law Firm
$5,200	Gardere Wynne Sewell & Riggs	Law Firm
$5,000	Beirne Maynard & Parsons	Law Firm
$5,000	Hughes & Luce LLP	Law Firm
$5,000	Kinetic Concepts, Inc.	Hospital bed manufacturer
$5,000	Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates	Law Firm
$5,000	Strasburger & Price	Law Firm
$5,000	Valero Energy Corp.	Energy/Natural Resources
$5,000	Winstead PC	Law Firm

                   

 

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¹⁰ “Judicial Tort Reform in Texas,” University of Texas School of Law Professor David A. Anderson, The Review of Litigation, Winter 2007.
¹¹ “Lowering the Bar: Lawyers Keep Texas Appeals Judges on Retainer,” Texans For Public Justice, May 2003. http://www.tpj.org/docs/2002/05/reports/apcourt/
¹² Here’s When Campaigning Feels Shifty,” Houston Chronicle, September 28, 2008.