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Brett Busby

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Brett Busby
Image of Brett Busby
Texas Supreme Court Place 8
Tenure

2019 - Present

Term ends

2026

Years in position

6

Prior offices
Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 3

Compensation

Base salary

$168,000

Elections and appointments
Last elected

November 3, 2020

Appointed

February 22, 2019

Education

Bachelor's

Duke University

Law

Columbia Law School

Contact

Brett Busby (Republican Party) is a judge for Place 8 of the Texas Supreme Court. He assumed office on March 20, 2019. His current term ends on December 31, 2026.

Busby (Republican Party) ran for re-election for the Place 8 judge of the Texas Supreme Court. He won in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Busby first became a member of the Texas Supreme Court when he was nominated by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on February 21, 2019, to replace Phil Johnson (R).[1] Busby was confirmed and sworn in on March 20, 2019.[2] To learn more about this appointment, click here.

In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[3] Busby received a confidence score of Strong Republican.[4] Click here to read more about this study.

Biography

Busby received his undergraduate degree from Duke University and his J.D. from Columbia Law School.[5]

Before serving on the Texas Supreme Court, Busby was a Republican judge of the Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals from June 2012 to December 2018.[1] Prior to his judicial election, Busby worked in private practice. He has also clerked for the U.S. Supreme Court.[5]

Elections

2020

See also: Texas Supreme Court elections, 2020

General election

General election for Texas Supreme Court Place 8

Incumbent Brett Busby defeated Gisela Triana and Tom Oxford in the general election for Texas Supreme Court Place 8 on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Brett Busby
Brett Busby (R)
 
53.4
 
5,847,135
Image of Gisela Triana
Gisela Triana (D)
 
44.1
 
4,826,674
Image of Tom Oxford
Tom Oxford (L)
 
2.5
 
274,959

Total votes: 10,948,768
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 8

Gisela Triana defeated Peter M. Kelly in the Democratic primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 8 on March 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Gisela Triana
Gisela Triana
 
72.0
 
1,251,611
Image of Peter M. Kelly
Peter M. Kelly Candidate Connection
 
28.0
 
485,697

Total votes: 1,737,308
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 8

Incumbent Brett Busby advanced from the Republican primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 8 on March 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Brett Busby
Brett Busby
 
100.0
 
1,692,583

Total votes: 1,692,583
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for Texas Supreme Court Place 8

Tom Oxford advanced from the Libertarian convention for Texas Supreme Court Place 8 on August 3, 2020.

Candidate
Image of Tom Oxford
Tom Oxford (L)

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Campaign finance

2018

See also: Texas intermediate appellate court elections, 2018

General election

General election for Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 3

Jerry Zimmerer defeated incumbent Brett Busby in the general election for Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 3 on November 6, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Jerry Zimmerer
Jerry Zimmerer (D)
 
51.2
 
884,260
Image of Brett Busby
Brett Busby (R) Candidate Connection
 
48.8
 
842,634

Total votes: 1,726,894
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 3

Jerry Zimmerer defeated Joseph Willie II in the Democratic primary for Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 3 on March 6, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Jerry Zimmerer
Jerry Zimmerer
 
51.2
 
96,401
Joseph Willie II
 
48.8
 
91,963

Total votes: 188,364
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 3

Incumbent Brett Busby advanced from the Republican primary for Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 3 on March 6, 2018.

Candidate
Image of Brett Busby
Brett Busby Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2012

See also: Texas judicial elections, 2012

Busby won election to the Fourteenth District Court of Appeals, defeating Barbara Gardner in the general election on November 6, 2012, with 52.3 percent of the vote.[6][7]

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Brett Busby did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

2018

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's candidate surveys
Candidate Connection

Brett Busby participated in Ballotpedia's candidate survey on September 3, 2018. The survey questions appear in bold, and Brett Busby's responses follow below.[8]

What would be your top three priorities, if elected?

1) Give everyone before the court a fair and respectful hearing.

2) Write a clear opinion that impartially decides the issues raised based on the law and the record.

3) Apply the laws made by the legislative and executive branches consistently across the board, never legislating from the bench.[9][10]

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about? Why?

I serve as chair of the Rules and Legislation Committee for the Texas Access to Justice Commission. Our committee has achieved significant reforms, including new legislation and rules allowing attorneys licensed in other states to represent clients pro bono in Texas courts, as well as proposed revisions to Code of Judicial Conduct explaining how judges and court personnel can facilitate access to courts by self-represented litigants.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many[10]

Ballotpedia also asked the candidate a series of optional questions. Brett Busby answered the following:

What qualities do you possess that would make you a successful officeholder?

I have the right experience for this position: I have specialized in appeals for twenty years, and I am Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law. I began my legal career as a law clerk at the U.S. Supreme Court. Before taking the bench, I was a partner at Bracewell & Giuliani LLP, and Super Lawyers named me one of the top 100 lawyers in Texas in 2012. Attorneys have consistently chosen me as one of the highest-rated Houston appellate judges in anonymous evaluation polls.[10]

Appointments

2019

See also: Texas Supreme Court justice vacancy (December 2018)

Texas Supreme Court Justice Phil Johnson retired on December 31, 2018.

Under Texas law, the governor appoints and the state Senate must approve a replacement when a supreme court justice retires in the middle of his term. Brett Busby, Johnson's replacement, was Gov. Greg Abbott's (R) second nominee to the nine-member supreme court. The Texas State Senate confirmed Busby on March 20, 2019.[2]

Analysis

Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)

See also: Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship and Ballotpedia Courts: Determiners and Dissenters

Last updated: June 15, 2020

In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.

The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[11]

The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:

  • Strong Democrat
  • Mild Democrat
  • Indeterminate[12]
  • Mild Republican
  • Strong Republican

This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.

Brett
Busby

Texas

  • Partisan Confidence Score:
    Strong Republican
  • Judicial Selection Method:
    Elected
  • Key Factors:
    • Was a registered Republican
    • Donated over $2,000 to Republican candidates
    • Received donations from Republican-affiliated individuals or organizations


Partisan Profile

Details:

Busby donated $65,208 to Republican candidates and organizations. He ran as a Republican for Texas State Supreme Court. He received $50,209 in campaign contributions from the Texas Republican Party. He was endorsed by Gov. Greg Abbot (R). When he was elected to the Texas Supreme Court, the state was a Republican trifecta.



State supreme court judicial selection in Texas

See also: Judicial selection in Texas

The nine justices of the Texas Supreme Court are selected in statewide partisan elections. The elected justices serve six-year terms, after which they must run for re-election if they wish to remain on the court.[13]

Qualifications

To serve on the Supreme Court, a justice must be:

  • a U.S. citizen;
  • a resident of Texas;
  • licensed to practice law in the state;
  • between the ages of 35 and 75;[14][15] and
  • a practicing lawyer and/or justice for at least 10 years.[13]

Chief justice

The chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court is selected by voters at large. He or she serves in that capacity for a full six-year term.[13]

Vacancies

See also: How vacancies are filled in state supreme courts

In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor appoints a replacement who must be confirmed by the Texas Senate. The appointee serves until the next general election, in which he or she may compete to serve for the remainder of the unexpired term.[13]

The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.



See also

Texas Judicial Selection More Courts
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Courts in Texas
Texas Courts of Appeals
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Texas Supreme Court
Elections: 202520242023202220212020201920182017
Gubernatorial appointments
Judicial selection in Texas
Federal courts
State courts
Local courts

External links

Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Texas Tribune, "Gov. Greg Abbott appoints Brett Busby to Texas Supreme Court," February 21, 2019 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "appt" defined multiple times with different content
  2. 2.0 2.1 The Texas Tribune, "Texas Senate confirms Brett Busby for Supreme Court post," March 20, 2019
  3. We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
  4. The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Brett Busby, "Biography of Justice Busby," archived February 2, 2018
  6. Texas Secretary of State, "2012 General Election Results," November 6, 2012
  7. Texas Republican Party, "2012 Texas Republican Candidates," archived August 15, 2012
  8. Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
  9. Ballotpedia's candidate survey, "Brett Busby's responses," September 3, 2018
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  11. The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
  12. An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Texas," archived October 3, 2014
  14. While no justice older than 74 may run for office, sitting justices who turn 75 are permitted to remain on the court until their terms expire.
  15. Texas State Historical Association, "Judiciary," accessed September 12, 2014