billionaire-money-changed-the-texas-judiciary

Billionaire Money Changed The Texas Judiciary

Judge’s gavel and stand with US dollar bills on the wooden table.It is interesting how the amount of money you have can change how you treat yourself. Dead broke? Maybe a slice of bacon on your McDouble. Middle class? Why not upgrade the family car. So rich that a couple $100k missing from your account just looks like a rounding error? Buy a judge! And Supreme Court justices aren’t the only judges on the market either — just take a look at Texas! Bloomberg Law has coverage:

Texas Republicans rode financial support from Elon Musk and other billionaires in the state, appearing to flip 23 intermediary appeals court benches held by Democrats.

Although results weren’t official Wednesday morning, Republicans seemed to win all but one of 32 contested appeals court races on Tuesday, a stunning degree of dominance that court watchers hadn’t foreseen entering the day.

Robert Rowling, Ken Fisher, and Jeff Hildebrand are some of the other billionaires who voted with their dollars.

It was already bad enough for anyone who wanted to sue Tesla and got Reed O’Connor, but it’ll be that much harder to fix your problem by having your judge recuse when their replacement is also backed by billionaire dollars.

Musk Money Bolsters Surprise GOP Wave in Texas Judge Races (2) [Bloomberg Law]