Monday, January 29, 2007

What happens if the Court of Criminal Appeals is de-funded?

Texas Monthly called them a "laughingstock" and "Texas' worst court," while the Austin Statesman suggested that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is so embarrassing to the state that the Legislature should simply delete their funding from the budget.

De-funding the CCA is a bold idea (though I'd rather somebody just run better candidates). As a practical matter, I guess that would mean that the state's 14 appellate courts would become the de facto courts of last reort for criminal defendants. Depending on where you live, there could be worse outcomes by comparison to the status quo.

What would that save (besides embarrassment in the public eye and injustice in the courtroom)?

According to LBB's new 2008-2009 budget estimate, doing so would save the state about $8.6 million in general revenue and $27.8 million total funds in the next biennium (p. IV-3).

Not that it's likely, unless House Judiciary Chair Will Hartnett or Senate Jurisprudence Chair Jeff Wentworth get a burr under their saddle.

I'm just saying. It's getting pretty bad.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You can get a review of the the CCA does monthly by simply requesting it be sent to your computer. The 1st court denies every case if the Judge refuses to sign for a Writ or appeal and the Judges especially the female judges are never wrong especially in their own minds.

I would go along with removing everyone from the CCA and restocking. That is what you do when something expires, you remove it and restock. That is something that needs to be looked at and if you see and "I" behind that person's name, that stands for Incumbent and they need to get another job. They system needs to be cleaned out.

How can they totally deny the Supreme Courts decision to clean up their act by simply thumbing their nose at the highest court in the USA? The CCA has done that twice. When is the Supreme Court going to decide enough is enough and take them to task? It is high time something is done! This is the most unfair court in the USA and especially in Texas.