Judge Alcala Won’t Seek Re-Election

Election season is barely over, but the race for 2018 is already shaping up at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, where Judge Elsa Alcala has announced plans to not seek re-election when her term ends on Dec. 31, 2018. Alcala, a Republican who joined the court in 2011 via appointment by former Gov. Rick Perry, said the primary reason for her decision to step down stems from her disdain for the fact that Texas judges are chosen through a partisan election. "Although I have been fortunate in that I have repeatedly been elected or reelected by the public, I believe that the results from partisan judicial elections are too random and unreliable for me to engage in this process for a fifth time," she wrote in a statement published Dec. 29. The judge – who began on the 338th District Court before moving on to the 1st Court of Appeals and eventually the CCA – noted that the demands of running a statewide campaign have become too strenuous for her. Alcala has three kids in high school. (Twitter followers will note her affinity for their pursuits in cross country.) Alcala become somewhat of an iconic figure on the bench last June, when she wrote a lengthy opinion in the case of death row inmate Julius Jerome Murphy suggesting that the state may want to re-examine the constitutionality of employing the death penalty altogether.