Michael Keasler

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Michael Keasler
Image of Michael Keasler
Prior offices
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Place 6

Education

Bachelor's

University of Texas, Austin

Law

University of Texas, Austin

Contact

Michael Keasler (Republican Party) was a judge for Place 6 of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. He assumed office on January 1, 1999. He left office on December 31, 2020.

Keasler's term expired on December 31, 2020, due to a mandatory-retirement provision in the Texas Constitution. Click here for more information on the process for selecting Keasler's replacement. His term was originally supposed to end on December 31, 2022.

Education

Judge Michael E. Keasler earned his B.A. and L.L.B. degrees from the University of Texas at Austin.[1]

Career

In 1969, Keasler was appointed assistant district attorney for Dallas County. He remained there until 1981, when he became judge of the 292nd District Court in Dallas, where he remained for 17 years. In 1998, he was elected to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.[1]

Awards and associations

  • Former chair, State Bar Judicial Section
  • Former chair, Texas Center for the Judiciary's Board of Directors
  • Former chair, Dallas County Juvenile Board
  • Former chair, Dallas County Criminal District Judges
  • Former chair, ABA State Trial Judges' Ethics Committee.
  • 1990 - 1997 Dean, Continuing Judicial Education in Texas
  • 1993 Created the Texas College of Advanced Judicial Studies
  • Member, The National Judicial College
  • Member, The American Law Institute
  • Member, ABA Appellate Judges Conference
  • Member, The American Judicature Society
  • Fellow, Texas Bar Foundation[1]

Elections

2016

Main article: Texas judicial elections, 2016

Keasler ran for re-election to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.[2] He defeated Richard Dean Davis in the March 1 Republican primary and faced Robert D. Burns III (D) and Mark Bennett (Lib.) in the November general election.

Election results

November 8 general election
Incumbent Michael Keasler defeated Robert D. Burns III and Mark Bennett (Texas) in the general election for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 6.
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 6, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.png Michael Keasler Incumbent 54.97% 4,785,012
     Democratic Robert D. Burns III 40.89% 3,558,844
     Libertarian Mark Bennett (Texas) 4.14% 360,167
Total Votes (100% reporting) 8,704,023
Source: Texas Secretary of State Official Results
March 1 primary election
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 6, Republican Primary, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.png Michael Keasler Incumbent 56.87% 1,102,194
     Republican Richard Dean Davis 43.13% 835,758
Total Votes (100% Reporting) 1,937,952
Source: Texas Secretary of State Official Results

Endorsements

2010

Main article: Texas judicial elections, 2010

Keasler, running as a Republican, defeated Democrat Keith Hampton and Libertarian Robert Ravee Virasin in the general election, winning 60.5% of the vote.[3]

Political ideology

See also: Political ideology of State Supreme Court Justices

In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.

Keasler received a campaign finance score of 1.26, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was more conservative than the average score of 0.91 that justices received in Texas.

The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[4]

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Judge Michael Keasler judge. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

See also

Texas Judicial Selection More Courts
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External links

Footnotes