Texas Chief Justice To Resign

[salonghorn70]

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/metro/04/30phillips.html

[MidwestTransplant]

1. What f'er?

[salonghorn70]

2. No Specific Reason

The Statesman link says he announced that he will resign in September and then teach at South Texas School of Law for one year before deciding what to do after that. He also says that he ran in 2002 under tha assumption that the method of choosing Judges would be changed.

[texastoast]

3. Good

But we will probably get someone just as business oriented as Phillips is. It was about the time he came to the court that marked when Texas started going down the neocon road.

[lastliberalintexas]

4. Actually,

we'll get someone even worse. Phillips is an old school repub, not a neocon. He is very pro-business/anti-consumer, but he isn't extreme in most of his opinions and does not seem to believe in results oriented legal "reasoning" a la the USSC. Phillips is conservative, but at least he's not a nut.

And Phillips has been a strong proponent of election reform for the judicial branch- something sorely needed in our state. He's not perfect, but I'll take Phillips over people like Owen and Smith any day of the week. And his replacement will be of their ilk- or even worse.

[texastoast]

5. Where is Kilgarlin when we need him?

Sigh.

I remember how it all started falling apart when Phillips was elected. That was the turning point in my memory.

You are right. We could do much worse than Phillips.

What specific points in judicial election reform do you see as most important? Who do you see as a reasonable republican replacement for Phillips? Who do you see as a Democrat who might give the pub a run for their money?