Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder gambled in Texas by pouring millions of dollars of outside money into the state to pick off three Republican Texas Supreme Court justices. He lost.
Texas voters rejected his message at the ballot box, resoundingly reelecting all three justices he targeted.
With the support of former President Barack Obama and former U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Holder created a Democratic Party redistricting initiative, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), to target Republicans in 11 states, The Center Square first reported. The NDRC’s stated goal is to fundamentally alter the 2031 redistricting cycle nationwide.
After upending the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Holder’s group targeted several state supreme courts and state legislatures, including the Texas Supreme Court. The Texas Supreme Court is the highest court that rules on civil cases. Every general election, three seats are on the ballot.
This year, incumbent justices Jimmy Blacklock, John Devine and Jane Bland, all Republicans, ran for reelection. Holder targeted their races, endorsing their challengers: DaSean Jones, Christine Weems, and Bonnie Lee Goldstein. The NDRC, political action committees and heavyweight donors poured money into Texas targeting the three justices, whose fundraising efforts were significantly restricted by law by comparison.
Holder accused the justices and Texas Supreme Court justices of being “driven more by ideology than impartiality,” which he said “issued disastrous decisions that have caused real harm to the people.”
Holder, who served under Obama, was the first attorney general in U.S. history to be held in criminal contempt by Congress. In June, Attorney General Merrick Garland was the second.
Holder’s tenure was marked by controversy, including arguing in 2009, “in things racial we have always been and … continue to be … essentially a nation of cowards.”
In 2009, a Department of Justice Fast and Furious operation resulted in numerous deaths, including of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, prompting an extensive joint congressional investigation. In 2014, Holder denied culpability, resigned and denied he was forced out, after multiple members of Congress called for his resignation.
U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, maintained, “Eric Holder is the most divisive U.S. Attorney General in modern history, and has eroded more confidence in our legal system than any Attorney General before him through abuse of his office and failure to uphold the values of our Constitution.”
Ten years later, critics argue Holder’s still divisive, pointing to the NRDC’s claim that “Republicans seized control of the redistricting process to create an artificial political advantage for themselves, gerrymandering their way to power in Congress and state legislatures by disenfranchising voters, especially Democrats and people of color.”
In response to Holder’s efforts, Justice Blacklock told The Center Square, “Eric Holder apparently wants judges who will not follow the laws passed by our legislature if he doesn’t like those laws. He seems to want judges that will amend our constitution by judicial decree rather than allowing the people of Texas to amend their constitution if they choose to, but that’s not how this works, and he should know that.
“A judge’s job is to follow the law passed by the legislature, not to change the law. A judge’s job is to follow the constitution, not to change it. The legislature can change the laws that it has passed, and the people of Texas can change the constitution but that’s not a judge’s job.”
Texas voters agreed.
On Tuesday, Blacklock was reelected, receiving 58% of the vote. Devine was reelected, receiving 57% of the vote. Bland was reelected, receiving 56% of the vote.
After he was reelected, Blacklock told The Center Square, “The historic results in judicial races across Texas are a resounding rejection of efforts by Eric Holder and other left-wing groups to influence our state’s judiciary.
“Texans have spoken clearly. They want law and order, not chaos and crime. Texans want judges who will follow the text of the Constitution, not judges who will rewrite the law to serve a political agenda.
“I am grateful for every vote I received. My job now is to apply the law fairly and equally for all Texans, no matter who they are or who they voted for.”
Texans also resoundingly elected three new judges, all Republicans, to the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals. This is the highest court in Texas that rules on criminal cases. Every general election, three seats from this court are also on the ballot.
Texans overwhelmingly elected Republicans David Schenck, who received 58% of the vote; Gina Parker, who received 58%; and Lee Finley, who received nearly 59%.
