Three incumbent Republicans running for re-election for their positions on the Texas Supreme Court have received endorsements from the Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC in next month's general election.
TLRPAC has endorsed Republican Texas Supreme Court Justices Debra Lehrmann, Place 3, Paul Green, Place 5, and Eva Guzman, Place 9.
Justice Debra Lehrmann, Place 3 on the Texas Supreme Court
The three state Supreme Court justices are part of a solid slate of Republican candidates running for in-state office during the general election who have received TLRPAC's endorsement.
"Each election cycle, TLRPAC supports principled candidates up and down the ballot who understand the importance of a fair civil justice system as a pillar of our society and economy," TLRPAC director Drew Lawson was quoted in a TLRPAC endorsement announcement. "[The year] 2016 is an important election cycle for candidates from the courthouse to the statehouse, and voters can be confident these men and women will bring strong leadership and vision to the state of Texas."
TLRPAC is Texans for Lawsuit Reform's political arm. Texans for Lawsuit Reform, the largest civil justice reform organization in the state, is a bipartisan, volunteer-led coalition with more than 17,000 supporters in more than 920 Texas communities and representing more than 1,300 businesses, professions and trades.
TLRPAC's announcement said the PAC endorsed candidates in state races in which there is a serious major party opponent.
Green, whose current term ends this year, has been a justice on the state's highest court since he was first elected to the Place 5 seat in 2004. Prior to that, he served for 10 years as a justice on the Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio. A native of San Antonio, Green earned a business degree from the University of Texas at Austin and his law degree from St. Mary's University School of Law. A third-generation attorney in the Green family, he joined his father in a midsized litigation practice, where he worked for 17 years until elected to the Court of Appeals in 1994.
Green is a member of The American Law Institute and the American Judicature Society and is also a Life Fellow of the Austin, San Antonio, Texas and American Bar Foundations.
Green's challengers for Place 5 on the Texas Supreme Court are Democrat Dori Contreras Garza, Libertarian Tom Oxford and Green Party candidate Charles E. Waterbury.
Lehrmann was appointed to the high court June 21, 2010, by Gov. Rick Perry. Prior to her appointment, Lehrmann was district judge of the 360th District Court in Fort Worth, and served 22 years as a family law judge in Tarrant County. She also practiced law with the Fort Worth law firm of Law, Snakard & Gambill and worked as the Tarrant County Domestic Relations Office's lead attorney and director of the enforcement division. In 1990 she was recognized as the Outstanding Young Lawyer of Tarrant County. In 2005, she was appointed by Perry to be a commissioner on the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. She previously was chair of the drafting committee on the Uniform Relocation Act.
Lehrmann's challengers for Place 3 on the Texas Supreme Court are Libertarian Kathie Glass, Green Party candidate Rodolfo Rivera Munoz and Democrat Mike Westergren.
Guzman has served on three levels of the state judiciary. In 2009, Perry appointed her to serve on the state Supreme Court, and she was elected to a full term the following year, becoming the Hispanic woman elected to statewide office in Texas. Prior to her appointment, Guzman served for nearly 10 years on the 14th Court of Appeals in Houston. She began her judicial career on the 309th District Court in Harris County, to which she was appointed by then-Gov. George W. Bush.
She is the state court's liaison to the Commission on Judicial Conduct, the Texas Access to Justice Foundation and the Texas Access to Justice Commission. Guzman also is chair of the state Supreme Court's Permanent Judicial Commission for Children, Youth and Families.
Guzman's challengers for Place 3 are Green Party candidate Jim Chisholm, Libertarian Don Fulton and Democrat Savannah Robinson.
TLRPAC's endorsement for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals races are Mary Lou Keel, Place 2, Scott Walker, Place 5 and Michael Keasler, Place 6.
TLRPAC's endorsements for the appeals court judges are Sherry Radack for chief justice, First Court of Appeals (Houston); Evelyn Keyes, Place 4, First Court of Appeals (Houston), Jason Pulliam, Place 6, Fourth Court of Appeals (San Antonio), Lana Myers, Place 4, Fifth Court of Appeals (Dallas), David Schenck, Place 7, Fifth Court of Appeals (Dallas), Greg Perkes, Place 2, 13th Court of Appeals (Corpus Christi, Edinburg); Kevin Jewell, Place 2, 14th Court of Appeals (Houston) and Tracy E. Christopher, Place 9, 14th Court of Appeals (Houston).