Harris County commissioners weigh proposal to void recent bail reforms

Conservatives are looking to void Harris County's bail reform efforts — a move that County commissioners are preparing to consider Tuesday in executive session. In a case out of Dallas earlier this month called Daves v. Dallas County, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that district court judges have immunity from lawsuits as agents of the state when setting a bail schedule. The decision comes a little over two years after a federal judge ruled that Harris County's use of cash bail in misdemeanor cases unconstitutionally discriminated against people based on ability to afford bail, in a case called O’Donnell v. Harris County.

As a result, the county reached a settlement with the plaintiffs — a group of people in pretrial detention who couldn't afford to pay bail — and a federal judge issued a consent decree laying out steps Harris County must take to comply with constitutional standards. The county is currently involved in a similar case, Russell v. Harris County, in which plaintiffs are hoping to obtain a similar decision and consent decree against the county over the use of cash bail for indigent defendants in felony cases. In light of the Daves ruling, Republican Commissioner Jack Cagle has requested commissioners meet in executive session to consider four measures: to seek injunctive relief to dissolve the O'Donnell consent decree; to move for immediate dismissal of the Russell case; to eliminate all budgetary items and departments created by the O'Donnell consent decree; to invite the commissioners' former counsel in the O'Donnell case to brief the court on how they might claw back expenditures made because of the consent decree.