An embattled Texas Supreme Court justice facing a tough primary was revealed in leaked audio attacking his fellow justices on the all-Republican bench as "brainwashed" for not agreeing with his far-right viewpoints.
According to the Texas Tribune, Justice John Devine, who brags about being arrested over three dozen times as an anti-abortion activist before being elected to the state's high court and proclaims church-state separation to be a "myth," made the comments to a group of East Texas voters last September.
“At times I feel like they would sacrifice the Republic for the sake of the process,” said Devine. “My concern is that they all bow down to the altar of process rather than to fidelity to the Constitution. And when I say that, it’s not meant to be malice towards my colleagues. I think it’s how they were trained — how they were brainwashed.”
Devine said he was enraged that the court ruled against Jeff Younger, a man who was trying to stop his ex-wife from taking their transgender child to California, where a safe harbor law would shield them from prosecution by states that outlaw gender-affirming care — a decision based largely on errors in Younger's case.
“I'm not going to stand here sanctimoniously and say, ‘Well [Younger] didn’t cross a T or dot an I,’” said Devine. “We are talking about great constitutional issues here that will determine whether we survive as a representative republic or not. Are we going to just have it stolen from us? Over process for crying out loud?”
Devine also attacked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, also all Republicans, as “RINOs” and “trans-Republicans” for ruling that scandal-plagued and previously-impeached Attorney General Ken Paxton could not unilaterally prosecute voter fraud cases. And he claimed that officials in Harris County were using “Democrat dirty tricks” to “bastardize our election code” and rig elections.
Devine is currently the only justice in Texas who faces a primary challenge. He has come under heavy criticism by his challenger, appellate judge Brian Walker, "for missing half of oral arguments as he campaigned this year; auctioning private tours of the Texas Supreme Court for a 2023 GOP fundraiser; and not recusing himself from cases in which Walker argues that Devine had conflicts of interest," including a sex abuse lawsuit against partners at a law firm where Devine worked at the time of the allegations.
Justice Devine, 65, is the fourth-most senior justice, having won his seat on the high court in 2012.
Correction: A prior headline of this article incorrectly included reference to the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice Devine is a member of the Texas Supreme Court.
