CourtsOnFire is dedicated to educating Texans about the deterioration of Texas’ out-of-balance justice system. The right wing has almost succeeded in slamming shut the doors of justice, passing laws that restrict citizens’ access to the courts. Meanwhile, using the power of gubernatorial appointment and exploiting citizens’ lack of knowledge about many judicial candidates, the right wing has packed the courts with cronies whose only job appears to be protecting their corrupt contributors from being held responsible for the consequences of their actions.

In Texas, we know that when no one is accountable, no one is safe. And that’s what our courts have become: a closed, private system of special interest protection and advancement. And it’s the people of Texas who suffer.

Recently, a three-judge panel of the Third Court of Appeals appeared to write a get-out-of-jail free card for the gang who carried out the corrupt 2002 campaign finance scheme for Republicans that delivered the Texas House to that party. You remember: Tom DeLay. Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC). Texans for Lawsuit Reform (TLR). Mid-decade redistricting Corporate money. Indictments. Cronyism.

And that’s just one recent example. We’ll be telling stories – about arson and the suspicious fire that destroyed Texas Supreme Court Justice David Medina’s home, about accusations that another Supreme Court judge, Kenneth W. Law has been repeatedly violating Texas election laws.

About how the Supreme Court here sides with their contributors and other special interests against the security of average, hard-working Texans about 90 percent of the time. You read that right.

We’ll be covering Supreme Court opinions that protect industry from compensation workers and their families for negligence that maims. About keeping ripped-off homeowners from going to court, forcing them into arbitration and making them victims of a state agency packed with homebuilders – then tossing out the arbitration when, miracle of miracles, a homeowner actually prevails with a complaint.

The issue is simple: The third branch of government, the judicial branch, is corrupt and out-of-balance. The courts are packed with judges selected by unaccountable, far-right special interests. The courts have turned their backs on hard-working Texas family.

It’s time Texans were told the truth. We will do that here at CourtsOnFire.