Editorial: We recommend Scott Walker in the GOP primary for Criminal Court of Appeals, Place 5 – Houston Chronicle

One reason Texas highest courts have nine members is so that justices with different perspectives can test their ideas in conference. They challenge each others ideas until arriving at a majority opinion. The states final arbiter on cases involving everything from murder to public intoxication the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals ought to have at least one member with extensive experience in trials defending clients.

Currently, the judge on the court with that experience is Justice Scott Walker, 68, who is facing off against a Harris County assistant prosecutor in the March 1 Republican primary. A graduate of Dallas Baptist University and Baylor School of Law, Walker practiced law before judges and juries defending people facing civil and criminal charges. In 2016, he won a six-year term to Place 5 of the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals.

His opponent, Clint Morgan, 40, says Walker writes too few opinions and takes too long when he does. He told us he suspects thats because Walkers defense attorney mindset finds few converts on the all-Republican court, where no other member brings a substantial background as a defense lawyer. Morgan notes hes won 10 of the 12 cases hes had before the Court of Criminal Appeals. If elected, he says hed rely on his own substantial appellate experience to produce more opinions, and bring a prosecutors mindset to his work.

We believe Morgans criticisms miss their mark by a wide margin. Its not a defect that Walker brings a defense attorneys perspective into the justices deliberations. And we think Walker makes sense when he offers no apology for being assigned to write fewer majority opinions than other justices.

Im not going to change my mind or water it down so I can get the vote, Walker told the editorial board. Im very careful to follow the Constitution and the laws.

He argues that he has, over time, brought greater balance to the court. In Ruiz v. Texas, for example, Walker joined the majority in refusing prosecutors to use as evidence results from a blood-alcohol test taken without a warrant from a hospitalized, unconscious man who was suspected of drunken driving.

The 2019 decision impacted cases across Texas, and Morgan said it made prosecutors jobs harder in DWI cases. Its an example of an over-emphasis on procedure that is more typically part of a defense attorneys mindset, he said.

And yet both the district court and a court of appeals had already ruled that the evidence could not be admitted.

Walker defended the opinion on purely constitutional grounds.

The Fourth Amendment, and its protections from search and seizure, is the supreme law of the land, he said.

By any definition, Walker is a conservative justice. But even during a surge in violent crime perhaps especially during such a time Texass highest criminal court benefits from judges who bring as wide a variety of backgrounds as possible, and ones who arent afraid to remind their colleagues of defendants fundamental rights.

We should strive for an efficient system that follows the law and Constitution. Towards the end of our call with Walker, he talked about a tremendous workload before the court. Primary voters should give him a chance to continue should he prevail over Democrat Dana Huffman in the general election.

More Recommendations from Editorial Board

Link:
Editorial: We recommend Scott Walker in the GOP primary for Criminal Court of Appeals, Place 5 - Houston Chronicle