THANK YOU.  I am grateful for the honor of serving the good folks of northeast Texas as Chief Justice of Texas' Sixth Court of Appeals, headquartered in Texarkana and serving 19 counties as our primary service area.  I have had the privilege of serving in this office since June 2002.  In November 2010, Northeast Texans voted to rehire me for another 6-year term (through 2016).  Thank you for placing your trust in me!  I pledge to keep doing my utmost to merit your trust and providing the highest quality, impartial, responsible, honest, prompt, and economical justice possible.

     COURT FUNCTIONING WELL.  The Court is in good shape with a great team of public servants in place.  I'm honored to work with colleagues, Justice Jack Carter and Justice Bailey Moseley.  Your Sixth Court consistently ranks among the most prompt of the 14, well run, Courts of Appeals distributed around Texas, and also consistently ranks among those with the lowest case backlog.  In recent years, we have had among the shortest times (among those 14 "sister" courts) from the filing of an appeal to the time we issue our opinion deciding that appeal.  More importantly, we decide cases based on the law and the facts, impartially, not based on any social or personal agenda.  We practice judicial restraint, like judges should, and like most, do in the Texas state court system.  I believe our reputation bears out those claims.

     BUDGET MATTERS.  In the current biennium (2-year budget cycle), we are experiencing a bit of the state-wide shortfall in the state budget, though, in truth, the Legislature was relatively kind to us, recognizing that we are a core state function.  Our court is a key part of the judicial branch of Texas state government, which provides the core governmental function of resolving disputes and administering justice so that an orderly society can exist and function. We run on a relatively spare budget, over 90% of which goes to pay the highly trained and capable people who work on our team.  Note that the portion of the state budget going to fund the entire Texas court system (including our one appeals court) amounts to less than 1/2 of 1% of the whole state budget.  Thank you for letting us serve you.