Jane Bland
2019 - Present
2030
6
Jane Bland (Republican Party) is a judge for Place 6 of the Texas Supreme Court. She assumed office on August 26, 2019. Her current term ends on December 31, 2030.
Bland (Republican Party) ran for re-election for the Place 6 judge of the Texas Supreme Court. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Governor Greg Abbott (R) appointed Bland to the court on August 26, 2019, to replace Justice Jeff Brown, who was confirmed to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.[1] Bland ran for election in 2020 to serve the remainder of Brown's term. 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.[2] Bland received a confidence score of Strong Republican.[3] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Education
Justice Bland received a bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Austin, where she majored in accounting and honors business. She received a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law.[4]
Career
Bland began her legal career as a clerk for Judge Thomas Gibbs Gee of the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. She then practiced law at Baker Botts, L.L.P., where she specialized in civil trials and appellate work.[4]
In 1997, then Gov. George W. Bush appointed Bland to a civil trial judgeship, a position she held for five years after being elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2002. In 2003, Gov. Rick Perry (R) appointed Judge Bland to the Texas First District Court of Appeals.[4] She served on the court from 2003 to 2018.
In 2006, Justice Bland wrote 76 signed opinions, 47 per curiam opinions, and no dissenting or concurring opinions. She took the place of a recused member of the Texas Supreme Court and wrote the court's opinion in Hyundai v. Vasquez.[5]
Elections
2024
See also: Texas Supreme Court elections, 2024
General election
General election for Texas Supreme Court Place 6
Incumbent Jane Bland defeated Bonnie Lee Goldstein and David Roberson in the general election for Texas Supreme Court Place 6 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Jane Bland (R) | 56.2 | 6,145,167 |
 | Bonnie Lee Goldstein (D) | 40.5 | 4,425,189 | |
 | David Roberson (L) | 3.3 | 355,485 | |
| Total votes: 10,925,841 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 6
Bonnie Lee Goldstein defeated Joe Pool Jr. in the Democratic primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 6 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Bonnie Lee Goldstein | 73.1 | 646,690 |
 | Joe Pool Jr. | 26.9 | 237,465 | |
| Total votes: 884,155 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 6
Incumbent Jane Bland advanced from the Republican primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 6 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jane Bland | 100.0 | 1,690,507 |
| Total votes: 1,690,507 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Libertarian convention
Libertarian convention for Texas Supreme Court Place 6
David Roberson advanced from the Libertarian convention for Texas Supreme Court Place 6 on April 14, 2024.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | David Roberson (L) |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Campaign finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Bland in this election.
2020
See also: Texas Supreme Court elections, 2020
General election
General election for Texas Supreme Court Place 6
Incumbent Jane Bland defeated Kathy Cheng in the general election for Texas Supreme Court Place 6 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jane Bland (R) | 55.2 | 6,050,534 |
 | Kathy Cheng (D) | 44.8 | 4,903,527 | |
| Total votes: 10,954,061 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 6
Kathy Cheng defeated Larry Praeger in the Democratic primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 6 on March 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kathy Cheng | 74.5 | 1,310,598 |
| Larry Praeger | 25.5 | 448,114 | ||
| Total votes: 1,758,712 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 6
Incumbent Jane Bland advanced from the Republican primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 6 on March 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jane Bland | 100.0 | 1,699,236 |
| Total votes: 1,699,236 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Campaign finance
2018
General election
General election for Texas First District Court of Appeals Place 2
Gordon Goodman defeated incumbent Jane Bland in the general election for Texas First District Court of Appeals Place 2 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Gordon Goodman (D) | 50.9 | 881,091 | |
| Jane Bland (R) | 49.1 | 849,077 | |
| Total votes: 1,730,168 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas First District Court of Appeals Place 2
Gordon Goodman advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas First District Court of Appeals Place 2 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | Gordon Goodman | |
| ||||
| = 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 First District Court of Appeals Place 2
Incumbent Jane Bland advanced from the Republican primary for Texas First District Court of Appeals Place 2 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Jane Bland |
| ||||
| = 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
Bland defeated judicial candidate Ron Lovett in the general election on November 6, 2012, with 53.3% of the vote.[6][7]
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Jane Bland did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Jane Bland did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Appointments
2019
Texas Supreme Court Justice Jeff Brown vacated his seat on the state supreme court after he was elevated to be a federal judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. The U.S. Senate confirmed Brown to the federal district court on July 31, 2019.[8]
On August 26, 2019, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) nominated Jane Bland to fill the vacancy. Because the legislature was out of session at the time of the appointment, it did not require confirmation by the Texas State Senate. As a result, however, Bland needed to stand for election in 2020 to remain on the bench.
Under Texas law, the governor appointed a replacement in the event of a midterm vacancy on the supreme court. Bland was Greg Abbott's (R) third nominee to the nine-member supreme court.
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
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.[9]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[10]
- 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.
Jane
Bland
Texas
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Strong Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Republican as of 2020
- Donated over $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Received donations from Republican-affiliated individuals or organizations
Partisan Profile
Details:
Bland was appointed in 2019 by Gov. Greg Abbot (R) to fill a vacancy on the Texas Supreme Court. At the time of her appointment, the state of Texas was a Republican trifecta. She donated $5,600 to Republican candidates. She received $81,272 from the Texas Republican Party. She was endorsed by Gov. Abbot when she ran for retention. She ran for retention election as a registered Republican.
Noteworthy cases
The section below lists noteworthy cases heard by this judge. To suggest cases we should cover here, email us.
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.[11]
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;[12][13] and
- a practicing lawyer and/or justice for at least 10 years.[11]
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.[11]
Vacancies
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.[11]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
|
Candidate Texas Supreme Court Place 6 |
Officeholder Texas Supreme Court Place 6 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ The Texas Tribune, "Gov. Greg Abbott selects former appeals court judge Jane Bland for Texas Supreme Court," August 26, 2019
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Vinson & Elkins, "Distinguished former Appellate Justice Jane Bland joins Vinson & Elkins," February 5, 2019
- ↑ Houston Opinions, "Judge Bland 2009 opinions," accessed September 4, 2015
- ↑ Texas Republican Party, "2012 Candidate Filing," accessed September 4, 2015
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "2012 General Election Results," November 6, 2012
- ↑ Congress.gov, "PN510 — Jeffrey Vincent Brown — The Judiciary," accessed April 10, 2019
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Texas," archived October 3, 2014
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Texas State Historical Association, "Judiciary," accessed September 12, 2014
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Texas Supreme Court Place 6 2019-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
Texas First District Court of Appeals Place 2 -2018 |
Succeeded by - |
Federal courts:
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, Northern District of Texas, Southern District of Texas • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, Northern District of Texas, Southern District of Texas
State courts:
Texas Supreme Court • Texas Court of Appeals • Texas Court of Criminal Appeals • Texas District Courts • Texas County Courts • Texas County Courts at Law • Texas Statutory Probate Courts • Texas Justice of the Peace Courts
State resources:
Courts in Texas • Texas judicial elections • Judicial selection in Texas
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