Fifth Court of Appeals – The Constitutional Firewall

Fifth Court of Appeals – The Role of this Court

Left to Right: Douglas Lang, Molly Francis, Elizabeth Lang Miers, David Evans, Craig Stoddart,                John Browning, Jim Pikl, Jason Boatright, David Bridges – also present, Carolyn Wright

Few Texans know the role of the fourteen Texas Appeals Courts. The above-pictured panel of sitting justices and candidates presented an overview of the Texas Judicial Branch to Rockwall Republicans on 11 October 2018.

The below chart outlines the flow of appeals from the lowest Justice of the Peace courts to the two Texas top courts. The Supreme Court deals with civil matters, the Criminal Court deals only with criminal matters. Texas actually has two supreme courts.

Texas Appeals Courts do not judge guilt or innocence in criminal appeals or culpability in civil cases. It judges on the basis of the Rule of Law to assure equal justice. Why is this important?

Sometimes, judges and lawyers, willingly or unwittingly, do not follow the law. One recent example: Texas Appeals Court Dismisses Fraud Charge Against Oil Heir (In this case, a corrupt Democrat district attorney)

The Fifth Court of Appeals is the busiest of the fourteen and therefore the most important to preserve the Rule of Law. What is the Rule of Law?

The rule of law requires the government to exercise its power in accordance with well-established and clearly written rules, regulations, and legal principles. A distinction is sometimes drawn between power, will, and force, on the one hand, and law, on the other. When a government official acts pursuant to an express provision of a written law, he acts within the rule of law. But when a government official acts without the imprimatur of any law, he or she does so by the sheer force of personal will and power.

The Democratic Party is fielding candidates for every elected position in Texas and that means all seats on the Appeals Courts are at risk of falling into the hands of unqualified Democrats. It is not I who deem the Democrats unqualified; it is the editorial board of the Dallas Morning News that vetted and endorses 100% of the Republican candidates on the basis of professional qualifications and past performance.

Because these candidates are not as well known as the top people on the ballot, voters, particularly Republican voters, tend to not cast votes for them. This is not so for the Democrats who generally vote straight-party.

For the above reasons, I urge all voters whether Republican, Independent, Libertarian and even sensible Democrats to vote straight-Republican. For the first time in my many decades of voting, I will vote straight-Republican ticket to assure this vital court does not fall to the Democrats.

Why is this important? Look to what happened to solid-Red California after the liberal Democrats took control of the appellate courts.

Choose wisely, my fellow Texans. Let’s keep the Constitutional Firewall up to date to block Democrat malware from corrupting justice in Texas.

John White
Rockwall, Texas