The Iraq Crisis-at Home

The 1988 election presented Texans an extraordinary opportunity to straighten out their Supreme Court. Three justices had resigned, and a sitting justice decided to challenge the newly appointed Republican chief justice, Tom Phillips.so voters had to choose six instead of the usual three justices. A broad coalition of insurance consumers including cities, counties, businessmen, and physicians set out to end the activist dominance by means of an old-fashioned grassroots campaign, distributing millions of wallet-sized “slate cards” endorsing two Democrats and four Republicans, headed by Chief Justice Phillips. The voters came through, and five of the six reform candidates won.

Three weeks after the election, before the lame ducks departed, the court received on appeal a bellwether case. Disregarding playmates’ warnings, 16-year-old Carl David Reynolds had coupled eight three-foot metal tentpoles together and touched a Houston Power & Light transmission line strung 26 feet above the ground, ten feet higher than the safety code required. He wanted to “see what would happen.” The 35,000-volt shock burned him so badly that both legs and an arm had to be amputated. His parents sued the utility, the builders who built homes near the powerline, and the tent manufacturer. The builders settled with a $2-millon payment. The case against the tent manufacturer was dismissed. But a jury found HP&L guilty of “conscious disregard” of others’ welfare in failing to post warning signs, and ordered it to pay $2.7 million actual and $1 million punitive damages.

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The 1988 election presented Texans an extraordinary opportunity to straighten out their Supreme Court. Three justices had resigned, and a sitting justice decided to challenge the newly appointed Republican chief justice, Tom Phillips.so voters had to choose six instead of the usual three justices. A broad coalition of insurance consumers including cities, counties, businessmen, and physicians set out to end the activist dominance by means of an old-fashioned grassroots campaign, distributing millions of wallet-sized “slate cards” endorsing two Democrats and four Republicans, headed by Chief Justice Phillips. The voters came through, and five of the six reform candidates won.

Three weeks after the election, before the lame ducks departed, the court received on appeal a bellwether case. Disregarding playmates’ warnings, 16-year-old Carl David Reynolds had coupled eight three-foot metal tentpoles together and touched a Houston Power & Light transmission line strung 26 feet above the ground, ten feet higher than the safety code required. He wanted to “see what would happen.” The 35,000-volt shock burned him so badly that both legs and an arm had to be amputated. His parents sued the utility, the builders who built homes near the powerline, and the tent manufacturer. The builders settled with a $2-millon payment. The case against the tent manufacturer was dismissed. But a jury found HP&L guilty of “conscious disregard” of others’ welfare in failing to post warning signs, and ordered it to pay $2.7 million actual and $1 million punitive damages.