Child-abuse cases are last place politics should seep in, as Fort Worth judge saga shows
The saga of Judge Alex Kim illustrates what can happen when politics looms large in the judicial system.
Tarrant County judges voted to move Child Protective Services cases out of Judge Alex Kim’s 323rd District Court, and that is the right call. The cases will be distributed among family law judges, as most other large counties apparently do. But it’s worth reflecting on how we arrived here.
Kim’s actions, particularly in CPS cases, have drawn questions for much of his tenure in office, now just over a year. Most egregiously in our view, he virtually cut specially appointed advocates for children in abuse and neglect cases out of the process, depriving children of unbiased advocates at a time they need them most.
There have been questions, too, of whether Kim was properly impartial in such cases or whether he had ruled against CPS in clear-cut abuse cases. And Kim was removed from the case of terminally ill infant Tinslee Lewis amid complaints of bias from Cook Children’s Medical Center, the hospital seeking to end life-sustaining care for Tinslee under the Texas Advance Directives Act.
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Outside the child-protection realm, Kim also inappropriately used the courthouse for a private poker gathering that included cigar-smoking, and his comments to an apparent sex-trafficking victim were seen by experts as victim-blaming.
The judges who met last week took care to say that their ruling was based on administrative need and aligning court practice with longstanding but neglected policy. But the specter of politics was clear. Empower Texans, the conservative activist group that’s made headaches for many Republican candidates and officeholders, drew attention to the proceedings. That prompted Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley (who is the county’s top elected administrator, not a court judge) to warn that judges were being intimidated by the possibility of well-funded primary challengers.
Whether that threat materializes remains to be seen. But the mere possibility points to a problem that this incident illuminates: partisan judicial elections.Texas is one of only a few states that elects judges with party affiliations. It distorts the process of picking the best judges and keeping them in office. Changing the system would require an amendment to the state Constitution, with high hurdles in the Legislature and a statewide election, so don’t expect movement any time soon.
Partisan primaries provide a point of leverage for groups like Empower Texans to try to enforce narrow ideological agendas that they can’t otherwise get past a majority of voters. If a debate materializes in the Legislature, this incident could be a prime example of the need for something better.
Kim’s response to the inquiry on the CPS issue suggests he’s willing to focus on juvenile justice cases. He expressed a desire to keep child-protection cases but also pointed out in a memo that the caseload could increase if lawmakers raise the age limit for more adult prosecutions.
We hope that indicates he’s moving on from so much drama. Kim has nearly three more years in office, and his court has important work to do. The more of it that can be done without politics interfering, the better.