Houston Chronicle Editorial: We recommend Lehrmann, Huddle and Young for the Texas Supreme Court

The Texas Supreme Court reviews cases in civil law, often having to do with technical details in disputes over property, malpractice settlements or compensation for injuries on the job. It’s a bit sleepier than such high-octane stuff as abortion, immigration or affirmative action that land before the U.S. Supreme Court. Still, the stakes can be high and it’s in Texans’ interest to stock the court with fair-minded jurists whose decisions are independent of their party affiliations. During the 2020 election, for example, the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court ruled against a lawsuit seeking to throw out the ballots of drive-thru voters in heavily Democratic Harris County. The court may rule in the near future on ERCOT’s liability for winter storm costs and on school districts’ ability to implement vaccine mandates. While electing justices from a broad range of backgrounds is important, we focus primarily on the experience, judicial record, temperament and aptitudes for research, writing and analysis that form the heart of appellate law.

Voters must choose between two qualified and path-breaking jurists in this race. The Republican incumbent, Justice Debra Lehrmann, 65, served as a family court judge for 23 years before being appointed to the high court in 2010 by Gov. Rick Perry. In 2016, she drew a primary challenger supported by Republicans who deemed her “ the most liberal justice ” in part for dissenting in tort-reform cases and for siding with plaintiffs. She prevailed. The author of two legal treatises and a liaison to the Texas State Bar, Lehrmann is the senior justice and presides over the Supreme Court when the chief justice is away. Justice Erin Nowell, 44, was elected to the Fifth District Court of Appeals as a Democrat in 2018. Before that, she practiced civil law at major firms representing plaintiffs and defendants. She says she is the only African-American out of more than 80 intermediate appellate justices in Texas and would be the only African-American on the Supreme Court. She pointed out that Lehrmann wrote a majority opinion reversing a decision from the 5th District Court of Appeals in which two officers who reported excessive force received damages under a whistleblower law.