Payola Justice: How Texas Supreme Court Justices Raise Money from Court LitigantsHome

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Summary

  • In their most recent campaigns, the seven Texas Supreme Court justices elected since 1994 (Justices Gonzalez, Hecht, Phillips, Cornyn, Owen, Baker and Abbott) raised $9,166,350 in contributions of $100 or more. Individual justices raised between $689,918 (Abbott) and $1,976,656 (Gonzalez).
  • Parties and lawyers with official business on the court's 1994-1997 docket-or contributors closely linked to these docket parties-contributed 40 percent ($3.7 million) of the $9.2 million that the seven justices raised.
  • 60 percent of the 530 opinions that the court delivered from 1994 through October 1997 are tainted by the fact that at least one of these seven justices studied took money from a contributor with close links to a party or lawyer involved in that case.
  • Few justices took money from parties on the court docket out of political necessity. Only two justices (Gonzalez and Hecht) faced an opponent in their last primary. Only two justices (Cornyn and Baker) ran competitive general election races (winning with less than 55 percent of the vote). Only one justice (Owen) ran with less than three times the amount of money that his or her opponent had.
  • The best friends of the court were lawyers and law firms. These sources contributed 42 percent ($3.8

    million) of what the seven justices raised (80 percent of this money came from docket-linked sources). Vinson & Elkins and its lawyers led the pack, giving the seven justices $244,018.

  • The PACs and executives of 50 corporations contributed 15 percent ($1.4 million) of the money raised by the seven justices; many of these companies (e.g. Enron, HEB, Coastal Corp, Houston Industries, Texas Utilities, Dow Chemical and Exxon) had cases on the court's docket.
  • Contributing $60,000 to the seven justices, the family of David and Richard Weekley (who head David Weekley Homes and Texans for Lawsuit Reform [TLR]) supports the court more than any other family (12 of the top 16 families contributing to the justices also gave TLR $10,000 or more).
  • The seven justices took nine percent ($854, 825) of their money from the PACs and employees of 30 trade groups, many of which file court briefs in support of members.
  • Many employees of the same law firm or corporation often make bundled contributions to the same justice on the same day. The largest bundles involve dozens of employees contributing more than $10,000 to a single justice.

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