Democrat Judge Randomly Assigned to Paxton's Criminal Fraud Case: Your Texas Roundup

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“It poops.”

—Seven-year-old Braelynn Gomez to WFAA, explaining why she could never take home one of the miniature horses she met at the Bachman Lake Branch Library in northwest Dallas on Tuesday.

BIG NEWS

New Face, Same Case
Attorney General Ken Paxton has a new judge assigned to his criminal fraud case: Harris County Judge Robert Johnson, a recently elected Democrat who is best known for beating incumbent Ryan Patrick in January’s 177th State District Court election, according to the Houston Chronicle. And, because Texas ain’t so small after all, Patrick is the son of Paxton’s colleague Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. Johnson was chosen at random after Paxton’s legal team successfully convinced a higher court to essentially bounce the previous judge, but it’s hard to imagine Paxton is too happy with this roll of the judicial dice. As the Dallas Morning News notes, Johnson is among the few Harris County judges who hasn’t received campaign donations from Paxton’s lawyers or either of the three special prosecutors assigned to the case. Paxton’s pretty much stuck to his guns throughout his nearly two-year criminal case, claiming he’s been the victim of a politicized witch hunt, so having a Democrat presiding over the case could bolster that argument. But since Johnson’s only been a judge for six months, it’s difficult to predict how the rookie might approach this complicated case. “I will make my ruling based upon the law and remain fair/impartial at all times,” Johnson writes on the “about me” page of his website. According to the Chronicle, Johnson was a criminal defense attorney for thirteen years before he was elected as judge, and he’s a 2001 graduate of Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law. Paxton’s case was originally set to go to trial in September, but that date will likely be pushed back.

MEANWHILE, IN TEXAS

But… Her… Emails!
During U.S. Attorney General Jeff Session’s hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Russian election meddling, Texas U.S. Senator John Cornyn turned back to Hillary Clinton’s emails, according to the Dallas Morning News. In the hearing, Cornyn tried to make the case that former FBI director James Comey was fired for mishandling the Clinton email scandal rather than for his investigation into Russian election meddling. But Cornyn said a memo written in May by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein indicated Comey repeatedly overstepped the Department of Justice’s authority during the Clinton investigation. When questioned about his role in Comey’s firing on Tuesday, Sessions said he and Rosenstein had a “clear view… that we had problems there, and it was my best judgment that a fresh start at the FBI was the appropriate thing to do. And, when asked, I said that to the president.” According to the Washington Post, Cornyn also attempted to make the argument that because Sessions had recused himself from Russian investigations, then Sessions couldn’t have been influenced by Comey’s probe into Russia.

Easy Rider
The Texas Department of Public Safety announced on Tuesday that it had suddenly cut back hours at the most frequently visited driver’s license centers across the state. But DPS was hammered with criticism from lawmakers and citizens, and within 24 hours the agency reversed its decision, reinstating the normally extended hours at eleven of the state’s busiest driver’s license centers, according to the Texas Tribune. The Houston Chronicle first reported that DPS had originally planned to slash hours and lay off more than 100 workers to help reduce with a $21 million funding hole, despite having a massive two-year budget of $2.4 billion. The agency dropped the new rules on Texans without any notice, and pretty much everyone was upset, from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to the average Joe to Governor Greg Abbott himself. Civil rights advocates were concerned that the limited hours would have worsened access issues that led to a federal court ruling against Texas’s Voter ID law, according to the Austin American-Statesman. “The decision to resume extended hours came after discussion with state leaders and state legislators,” DPS spokesman Tom Vinger said in a statement, according to the Tribune. “The Driver License Division will explore other options and efficiencies in order to keep the extended-hour schedule in place.”

Legroom For Days
American Airlines decided to scrap a plan that would have left passengers cramped and uncomfortable on the Fort Worth-based company’s incoming class of new jets, according to the Dallas Morning News. In an internal memo released on Tuesday, the airline wrote that it decided to put an end to its idea to add three rows of seats—with just 29 inches separating them—on its new Boeing 737 Max jets. The public reaction to that revelation in March was, uh, not great. “It is clear that today, airline customers feel increasingly frustrated by their experiences and less valued when they fly,” the memo reversing the decision said. “We can be leaders in helping to turn around that perception, and that includes reviewing decisions that have significant impact on the flying experience.” As the Morning News notes, the seats are still going to be pretty cramped, with thirty inches of “pitch” (the distance between a point on one seat and the equivalent point on the seat behind and in front) throughout coach.