“The dark shadow of corruption of our judicial system hangs over this case,” Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle said Monday, referring to the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals opinion that Tom DeLay’s money launderers didn’t really launder money because they used checks. Drug dealers throughout the state can rejoice. Turn those street dollars into checks and, well, you’re safe as a crooked politician.

Despite the fact that turning ill-gotten cash into checks is a favorite laundering tactic of drug dealers and political criminals alike, the court said checks aren’t “funds” under Texas law, and so transactions involving them can’t be prosecuted.

The case involves indictments against two of DeLay’s associates in the notorious 2002 campaign financing scheme that also resulted in DeLay’s indictment and forced resignation from Congress. Earle’s strong comments came in an appeal of the bizarre, Alice-In-Wonderland 3rd Court opinion.

There is no better example of the sickening corruption that has infected the Texas Courts from top to bottom since they became dominated by special interests who also control the legislative and executive branches. The courts are out of balance, and the corruption so thoroughgoing, so accepted as business as usual, that it can be hard to grasp.

But it is destroying the rule of law here, denying average Texans access to justice as the elite special interests who bought these judges escape accountability and responsibility for the harm they do all of us.

When no one is accountable, no one is safe, and that’s the Texas we live in today. Corruption of Texas courts, and legal barriers (known coyly as civil justice reform) placed between average Texans and the courthouse, are the reasons.

The Texas courts are like exclusive topless clubs. Judicial decisions are little more than lap dances for special interests who’ve paid millions for the judges and their favors.

“Is Justice for Sale In Texas?” screams a KHOU-TV story in Houston.The answer: you bet it is. That story focuses on a Texas Supreme Court decision that says petrochemical plants can avoid responsibility for injured workers by a neat little trick – buy a cheap, special kind of workers compensation plan and, abracadabra, your maimed workers can’t take you to court. The court ignored years of legislative precedent, earning rebukes from Democrats and Republicans, from the defense bar and the plaintiffs bar.

But hey, the petrochemical industry gave the nine Supreme Court justices $750,000, according to Texans for Public Justice. They got the lap dance they paid for. “This judicial system has become a joke, a farce,” said Andrew Wheat of TPJ.

Shamelessly, Leo Linbeck, Jr. of the Texans for Lawsuit Reform, who funneled a lot of that money to the judges, said outraged Texans who think it all stinks “ought to hold their nose.” It’s all there in that KHOU story.

Another example? Right wingers succeeded in passing laws that forced Texans out of the courthouse and into ambiguous arbitration. The special interest scheme would limit accountability – and damages – by keeping juries out of it. But when one arbitration decision against homebuilder Bob Perry – went against Perry, the Supreme Court threw it out.

Bob and Jane Cull of Mansfield, Texas, were forced to give up their eight-year legal fight because they simply couldn’t afford to go on. “The little guy just can’t win, and that’s what’s so devastating about it,” said Mr. Cull.

Bob Perry gave the justices $260,000 for that particular lap dance.

Want more? How about a Texas Supreme Court justice, David Medina, indicted for tampering with evidence in connection with arson and the fire that destroyed his home? The then-Harris County District Attorney, Chuck Rosenthal, got the indictment thrown out under suspicious circumstances, so suspicious the move was a factor in Rosenthal’s subsequent resignation in disgrace. Medina’s wife is now under indictment in connection with the blaze.

Yes, Texas courts are on fire.

Still more corruption?

Ethics complaints against Supreme Court judge Nathan Hecht and Medina for funny-money violations in their travel expense.

Another ethics complaint against Third Court of Appeals Judge Ken Law for violating the Judicial Campaign Fairness Act by taking twice the legal limit in contributions from “swift boat” financier Harold Simmons.

Texas Supreme Court judge Paul Green has also been accused of violating ethics laws by using political contributions to pay for his personal travel.

“The dark shadow of corruption of our judicial system?”

It’s more like a total ethical eclipse.

Returning to the DeLay related case that the Travis County district attorney is fighting, the three judge appeals court panel that ruled checks weren’t money – they received thousands of dollars from individuals and groups involved in the campaign scheme.

Third Court Chief Justice Law received $5,000 from “Just Hold Your Nose” Linbeck’s Texans for Lawsuit Reform. Plus the questionable funds from Simmons.

Justice Robert Pemberton received $6,500 from homebuilder Bob Perry, $7,500 from TLR, $5,000 from Simmons.

Justice Alan Waldrop received $5,000 from TLR, $5,000 from right-wing anti-public school millionaire James Leininger, and a bunch of money from various homebuilders.

That kind of money will get you a pretty good lap dance with those who brung you. Might even get some judges to give your cronies a get-out-of-jail free card that says, “Checks aren’t money.”

But I wonder, were the contributions to these judges made with checks? Do they spend it just like money?