Day 44: Big Raises for Judges, Fake Fixes For Healthcare—The Texas GOP At Work
The state of the judiciary? Well-paid. The state of healthcare? Still broken.
Yesterday, the Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice, Jimmy Blacklock, addressed the State of the Judiciary before the Legislature. We were quickly reminded that Blacklock was a Republican when he opened with, “The State of the Judiciary in Texas is strong.”
Don’t we all love vague, feel-good platitudes?
Blacklock discussed judicial salary increases, noting that Texas ranks 48th out of 50 in judicial salaries. He called for a 30% pay raise for judges.
The lowest paid judges in Texas make $140,000, and the highest paid earn over $200,000. By comparison, California pays between $250,000 and $300,000.
While Texas judges may earn less than their blue state counterparts, every single government employee in Texas is underpaid. Also, many Texas judges, especially the ones on the Supreme Court and in Abbott’s private business courts, are deeply corrupt. Blacklock is suggesting that judges get an extra $30,000 to $60,0000 per year, while Department of Transportation and Family Services employees aren’t even making $30,000 annually. It feels grimy.
If Republicans want to give judges a pay raise, it should be coupled with campaign finance reform and stronger ethics rules.
But Blacklock wasn’t just there to beg for a raise. He also clarified that he’s fully aligned with the far-right’s legal philosophy. He proudly declared that “The Living Constitution is dead in Texas.”
This is a favorite conservative talking point: the Constitution must be interpreted strictly as it was written, frozen in time, no matter how much the world has changed. This so-called “originalism” is just a fancy way of saying they’ll twist 18th-century language to justify stripping away modern rights. It’s the same logic used to argue that abortion rights don’t exist because the Founders didn’t explicitly mention them. (Of course, the Founders also didn’t mention AR-15s, but somehow gun rights remain sacred.)
In reality, the Constitution has continuously evolved. That’s how we ended slavery. That’s how women got the right to vote. That’s how civil rights protections were expanded. But to Blacklock and his Federalist Society buddies, any change that doesn’t align with their ideology is “judicial activism.” The only “activism” they like is the kind that rolls back rights.
Blacklock also attacked the American Bar Association (ABA), criticizing it for taking political stances and implying that Texas’s State Bar must remain completely neutral. This is rich coming from a man handpicked by Governor Greg Abbott, standing in front of a Republican-dominated legislature, lecturing everyone about staying out of politics.
The ABA has been vocal on voting rights, affirmative action, and judicial ethics. You know, all things that Republicans want to bury. So when Blacklock warns the State Bar to stay “neutral,” what he really means is that they need to shut up about democracy and racial justice unless they want consequences. It’s not about fairness; it’s about silencing progressive legal advocacy.
And then there was the drug war rhetoric.
According to Blacklock, the best way to help Texas families is to help law enforcement “win the war on hard drugs.” The same “war” that has devastated communities, fueled mass incarceration, and failed spectacularly for decades. Blacklock didn’t mention expanding addiction treatment, decriminalization, or harm reduction. Just more cops, more arrests, and more people locked up.
This isn’t about public safety. It’s about doubling down on failed policies that disproportionately target poor people and people of color. Texas has some of the highest incarceration rates in the country, but according to Blacklock, what we really need is more crackdowns.
The Republicans’ Healthy Texas farse.
The Senate Committee on Health and Human Services met yesterday to discuss SB25 and SB314, which are part of the “Make Texas Healthy Again” initiative. However, under the guise of “protecting Texans,” the legislation presents a mix of performative policymaking, market intervention disguised as free-market advocacy, and misplaced priorities.
Senator Kolkhorst (R-SD18) opened with a dramatic assessment of America’s healthcare spending. $4.5 trillion annually, with 90% going toward chronic and mental health conditions. She framed SB25 as a step toward solving this crisis through four pillars:
Mandatory physical education in schools.
Nutrition education for medical professionals.
Creation of a Texas Nutritian Advisory Committee.
Consumer protection through food labeling.
They claim this is about “protecting the people of Texas” and letting the market adjust to consumer demands. They argue that if Texans are better informed, the industry will change independently (despite decades of evidence that food corporations prioritize profits over health).
As we heard in Kolkhorst’s press conference Tuesday and then again yesterday in this hearing, there was constant rhetoric about how bad food causes rising healthcare costs.
We have a for-profit healthcare system, and until that changes, healthcare costs will remain astronomical. Even if Texans get healthier, we’re still paying the middlemen (a.k.a. the health insurance industry) $25 billion annually.
Further reading:
The school lunch purge.
SB314 aims to ban harmful food additives in Texas public schools. The bill would prohibit serving foods containing certain dyes, preservatives, and chemical additives.
The entire school lunch program could be chaotic because schools that don’t comply with the bans risk losing their free and reduced meal funding. Multiple senators, especially Senator Miles (D-SD13), raised concerns about whether this could make children hungry if vendors or school districts fail to adapt quickly.
Senator Hughes’ (R-SD01) response? “Well, we just can’t let that happen.” Inspiring.
Republican lawmakers brushed off concerns about food access by arguing that the market would adapt. Their logic:
Food companies already sell cleaner versions of their products in Europe and Canada.
Schools aren’t directly buying ingredients. They buy from vendors like Cisco, which will eventually adjust its supply chain.
“Some of these chemicals aren’t even necessary in the first place” (ignoring that US food corporations prioritize long shelf life and mass production).
Instead of structural reform, the bill relies on market forces to improve food options naturally. This is where leftists should take notice. The legislation shifts responsibility onto individuals and vendors rather than addressing systemic issues like food deserts, corporate food monopolies, or underfunded school nutrition programs.
The discussion exposed just how complicit food corporations are in making Americans sicker. Yet, neither bill discussed yesterday addressed the corporate incentive to keep selling garbage food. Republicans love yelling about “woke corporations” but won’t challenge food industry giants that profit from an unhealthy population.
The legislation sounds like a positive step, but it does nothing to fundamentally change the broken food system. It puts responsibility on consumers rather than holding corporations accountable for flooding the market with unhealthy food.
Real solutions, such as universal free school meals, taxing unhealthy food, or breaking up food monopolies, are not even on the table.
Further reading:
The takeaway? It’s all smoke and mirrors.
Republicans want credit for “fixing” problems without challenging the corporations creating them. They talk about protecting Texans from unhealthy food, but they won’t touch the food monopolies that keep prices high and options limited. They talk about reducing healthcare costs but refuse to acknowledge the insurance companies siphoning billions from the system. They claim to support free-market solutions, but they’re the first to intervene when it suits their agenda.
And while they posture about “healthy Texas” and school lunches, they’re completely fine with gutting public education funding, rejecting Medicaid expansion, and maintaining some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country.
The hypocrisy is off the charts.
There are many Senate committee hearings today (including discussions on banning drag shows and book burning), and I’ll have updates on those tomorrow. I’ll also try to catch up with the House Appropriations hearings this weekend. Oh, and don’t forget: Left in Texas podcast drops tomorrow. I’ll be talking with Representative Ron Reynolds, so stay tuned.
March 14: The last day Legislators can file bills.
June 2: The 89th Legislative Session ends.
Click here to find out what Legislative districts you’re in.
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humor break....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhjuKNOLSNM