Meet The Chief Justice

Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson

He’s one of the most powerful and influential men in the state, but Texas Supreme Court Chief  Justice Wallace Jefferson is hardly a household name.

On Wednesday our paths crossed  while Justice Jefferson was preparing to deliver the “State of  The Judiciary”  speech to the Texas Legislature, and I was waiting for his speech to end so a news conference on Hurricane Ike could get underway. 

Lawmakers preparing to escort the Chief Justice

You can read his remarks here: http://www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/pdf/2009StateOfTheJudiciary.pdf

In his speech Justice Jefferson spoke about the importance of making a representative of the court part of the emergency management planning during a Hurricane and of the need to reform judicial elections.

What did he leave out?

A plea to increase judicial salaries.

The chief  Justice told me he didn’t think that message would resonate during these tough economic times, but he is concerned that good quality judges will continue to leave the bench because of the relatively low pay.