Business Courts - New Part Of TX Judiciary - Stacked With Lawyers Who Represented BP, Exxon, Chevron, US Chamber

On Sept. 1, Texas is slated to open its new business courts, a brand-new legal system backed by Big Oil — and several of the court’s main judges have in the past represented fossil fuel companies as lawyers, The Lever has found. The judges were hand-picked over the last two months by Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, a major recipient of oil industry cash — and many can be quickly replaced if they hand down decisions he opposes, a judicial design that he championed.

The courts consist of 11 regional business courts and a new statewide court of appeals to hear appellate litigation, which are expected to have immediate impacts on environmental cases in the state. As Public Health Watch, an independent investigative news organization, reported last month, a suite of cases involving state environmental authorities will now be transferred from a generally liberal appeals court to the state’s new Fifteenth Court of Appeals, created to oversee the business courts.

There, these cases will be decided by a panel of conservative judges historically friendly to industry — particularly oil and gas interests, a powerful force in Texas. “Greg Abbott created a boutique court for corporations where he, not the voters, gets to pick the judges,” said Adrian Shelley, the director of the Texas office at Public Citizen, a progressive advocacy organization. “It’s that simple.”

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Last year, Texas lawmakers — with Abbott’s direction — proposed the state create a new system of business courts to handle major corporate cases. Many states have such a legal system, which proponents say can ensure that judges with appropriate expertise oversee complex business cases. Delaware’s historically corporate-friendly Court of Chancery is just one example. But Texas’ model is different from many other states’ business courts, experts say: The judges are appointed personally by the governor, with virtually no oversight from the legislative branch. And they only serve two-year terms — in contrast to 12-year terms in Delaware and six-year terms in Nevada — in theory making it easy for Abbott or a successor to quickly replace a judge who doesn’t rule in favor of his political interests. Abbott has been pushing for Texas to create such a system for years. “The judge essentially doesn’t have the last say if who’s on the court can be quickly changed,” Anne Tucker, a professor at Georgia State University College of Law, told The Lever in February. “Particularly if there’s an unpopular — even if legally correct — outcome.”

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https://www.levernews.com/justice-brought-to-you-by-big-oil/