The five candidates to fill federal court seats in Texas promised the state’s U.S. senators on Wednesday that if confirmed, they would steer clear of judicial activism.
The issue arose during a brief Washington, D.C., hearing of the U.S. Senate’s Judiciary Committee, which convened to consider the Obama administration’s nominees for federal district court seats. Critics say the unfilled judicial seats in Texas and other states have led to an unprecedented backlog in the federal courts system.
Among the nominees were three candidates for the Northern District of Texas, one for the Western District of Texas and one for the Eastern District of Texas. The committee did not vote, and it is unclear when the nominees might be considered by the full Senate.
“I don’t believe a judge should ever, nor will I ever, I pledge to you, never to operate with judicial activism,” said U.S. Magistrate Judge Walter David Counts III, who is being considered for the Western District of Texas.
Counts was responding to a question U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz posed to the candidates about what a judge should and should not do.
The term “judicial activism” has been used by Republicans to decry recent court decisions on issues like health care and marriage equality that critics said were partially due to some judges’ personal politics and preferences.
The hearing came after legal scholars and analysts have accused Republican senators, including Sens. Cruz and John Cornyn of Texas of intentionally stalling several nominations. There are currently 10 federal district court vacancies in Texas, all of which are considered emergencies by the federal government. There are also two empty seats on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which hears appeals from Texas.
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The five candidates that would fill Texas federal court seats promised to steer clear of judicial activism: https://t.co/iEdJ2tMxwD
— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) September 7, 2016
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