For presiding judge, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the Dallas Morning News recommends.
Republican David Schenck, a longtime jurist who served on the 5th District Court of Appeals from 2015-22, has impressed us for many years for his careful reading of the law and his service as a steward of judicial ethics.But voters have a hard choice in this race because a well-qualified Democrat in longtime Travis County prosecutor Holly Taylor is also standing for this bench.Both have the legal background and serious approach to the law to do the job.
We were given pause that Schenck was among three candidates whom Attorney General Ken Paxton endorsed after the Court of Criminal Appeals rightly rejected Paxton’s unlawful attempt to expand his prosecutorial powers. We saw this as an attempt on Paxton’s part to unduly influence the court. It was the sort of move that risks undermining confidence in the judiciary.
However, we have to balance Schenck’s acceptance of Paxton’s endorsement against two important facts. First, he ran against the incumbent presiding judge, Sharon Keller, in the Republican primary. Keller has a history of poor judicial and ethical actions, and it was easy for us to choose Schenck as the better candidate in that race.Also, Schenck has a long history of standing up for the highest judicial conduct, including an ongoing push for campaign finance reform.
Both Schenck and Taylor convinced us that they understand the law and are prepared to apply it as it is written while considering all relevant facts in the record.Dallas Morning News editorials are written by the paper's Editorial Board and serve as the voice and view of the paper. The board considers a broad range of topics and is overseen by the Editorial Page Editor.
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