What do we know of Senator Obama’s commitment to open courts for Plaintiffs?  Obama is a democrat, and as such ought to be much more concerned for the rights of citizens to come to the courts with their concerns about unsafe consumer products and to challenge large corporations to keep our environment clean for generations to come.  The Democratic Party understands that access to the courts in a foundational principle in this democracy, and Democrats in Texas know that nowhere is this principle more enshrined than in the Texas Constitution.  But this access has been under fire from Republicans (Bush led the way as governor in Texas and for the last eight years as president).  They use the same failed logic that underpins their economic policies to justify the idea of preventing consumers from suing large corporations. Apparently, if we force big corporations to produce responsibly this will hurt the American consumer.  I call this trickle-down corporate responsibility.  Everyone saves money when we do not hold corporate American responsible for its products.  By that logic, we ought to continue to import cheap dog food and baby formula from China . . . we would all save a few dollars.

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On September 26, 2008, the Texas Supreme Court injected new life into the use of a Batson challenge in civil cases, noting that the “landscape has evolved” since it last considered the issue in Goode v. Shoukfeh, 943 S.W.2d 441 (Tex. 1997).  The Court looked to Miller-El v. Dretke, a criminal case settled by the Supreme Court of the United States, for guidance, noting that the principles underlying the Batson challenge were fundamentally similar.  545 U.S. 231 (2005).  The Texas Supreme Court adopted a five-point totality of the circumstances test to be employed in the review of a Batson challenge and, of vital import, reiterated the procedural elements of a correct challenge.  Both are reviewed below.

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