The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), a nonprofit organization that manages the state’s power grid, is facing a crucial decision by the Texas Supreme Court regarding its immunity from lawsuits related to the deadly winter storm in February 2021. The storm left millions of Texans without power and resulted in hundreds of deaths.
In the storm’s aftermath, many people, communities, and insurers have filed lawsuits against ERCOT. Their ability to move forward with those cases hinge on what the state’s highest civil court decides.

A skilled card dealer can give themselves an unfair advantage if they are able to stack the deck. Republican governors in Texas are using a loophole the Texas Election Code to appoint Republican justices to the state’s supreme court, many of whom have backgrounds in corporate defense law firms, effectively stacking the court in favor of big business.

Five of the nine justices sitting on the Texas Supreme Court were handpicked from prominent corporate defense law firms by governors who have exploited a loophole in the Texas Election Code. When sitting justices step down before the end of their term, which allows the governor to bypass elections and appoint a successor, they are often rewarded with either a position at a prominent Texas corporate defense firm or with an appointment to a federal judicial position.