Texas has two high courts: one for civil cases (the Texas Supreme Court) and one for criminal cases (the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals). Currently, each of these courts has nine Republicans and no Democrats.

The Texas Supreme Court has recently weathered allegations that it tends to rule in favor of cases brought by elite law firms that donate money during judicial elections; one study found that if a party is a billionaire and is represented by one of the nine top law firms in the state, the party is 5.4 times more likely to win its case. But history is not on the side of those who are hoping for a change in the Court membership: the Texas Supreme Court has not had a Democratic Justice for over twenty years. Much has been made of the possibility of Texas turning into a blue state in the Presidential election, but it will take a very strong blue wave to break the Republican lock on the highest courts.

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