{"id":462953,"date":"2026-10-11T12:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T12:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/462953\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T12:30:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T12:30:13","slug":"texas-supreme-court-place-8-candidate-recommendation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/462953\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Supreme Court Place 8, candidate recommendation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Contests like this rematch for Texas Supreme Court, Place 8<\/a>, are a mixed blessing for voters. Both incumbent Brett Busby and challenger Gisela Triana are well-qualified, gave thoughtful responses in our Voter Guide and understand the full range of this high court\u2019s duties. Both are excellent candidates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But there is only one place available, so voters must choose. In our view, Busby, a Republican, edges out Triana, a Democrat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Busby has prior experience on this bench \u2014 he was appointed to it by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2019 \u2014 is interested in improving the court\u2019s efficiency and wants to make legal services more available to low-income Texans. He previously served on the 14th Court of Appeals in Houston and as a litigator in private practice.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court is the highest civil appellate court in Texas<\/a>. Its justices select the matters they choose to review; the court\u2019s opinions guide how lower courts apply the law. This high court also promulgates rules of civil and appellate procedure, has administrative authority over the State Bar of Texas and is responsible for licensing attorneys. All nine justices on the court are Republican.<\/p>\n

Busby said he takes his judicial oath seriously and that his party affiliation does not influence his opinions. As proof, he cited several cases in which the court went against the wishes of state\u2019s top elected officials. In May, for example, the court\u2019s majority rejected Abbott\u2019s attempts to oust a Democratic lawmaker<\/a> who fled the state last year<\/a> in an effort to derail an unusual and highly partisan mid-decennial redistricting effort.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Busby also is productive. He wrote more majority opinions, and more unsigned opinions on behalf of the court, than any other justice in fiscal year 2025. He said he works to apply the law as written and to respect its plain meaning because that leads to more consistent, predictable rulings.<\/p>\n

As part of his duties, Busby oversees the Access to Justice Commission and Foundation. That task has made him determined to support programs to provide low-cost legal services to more Texans. He is part of an effort to establish a system of law paraprofessionals who could provide basic, routine legal services, similar to the role nurse practioners play in healthcare.<\/p>\n

Gisela Triana has judicial experience at the municipal, justice of the peace, county court at law and district court levels. She is currently a justice in the 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin. Triana was analytical, well-prepared and knowledgeable.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s impossible to write about the Texas Supreme Court without mentioning that Abbott, now seeking his fourth term, has appointed seven of its nine members. The current selection process for this court is almost a de facto appointment-with-retention-election system. It\u2019s unclear how the situation affects the justices\u2019 attitudes or opinions, but it is a departure from the expectation embedded in the Texas Constitution. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Contests like this rematch for Texas Supreme Court, Place 8, are a mixed blessing for voters. Both incumbent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-462953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}