Thomas Smith

Thomas began his legal career as a law clerk to one of the most acclaimed conservative state jurists in American history, the Honorable Thomas J. Moyer, Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. In 1998, he joined the law firm of Jones Day in their Dallas office and embarked on a wide ranging career of civil...

I am seeking this office because Texans deserve its state's highest court addressing criminal matters to be one that has judges who are strong conservatives, who seek justice by applying the law as written, and issue decisions that result in a safer state in which to live. This court has done anything but that in recent years. It was weakened our elections, by bizarrely declaring that the AG could not prosecute election fraud. It turned nearly 100 sex offenders loose after its decision in Ex Party Lo, where it declared our felony law banning online sexual solicitation of children to be unconstitutional. It is on the verge of becoming a radical court, and it does not even have a majority of conservatives on it. That must change. ...

I am the only candidate seeking this place who has served as a law clerk for a state Supreme Court justice, one who was conservative and who did not tolerate judicial activism. I drafted opinions for him that reflected exactly that, in both civil and criminal cases. In addition to that, there is no candidate in this race that comes close to my many years of being in the conservative fight in Texas, and understanding why securing conservative justice in the midst of a constant leftist attack on our society is so crucial. I served as counsel to then Senator Ken Paxton before he became Attorney General, and at that time he foresaw the coming attacks on our way of life. Since 2015, I have served him in a variety of roles, first in our legislative division helping to write laws and now in our criminal justice division. My experience in the legislative division drafting laws taught me how ill equipped judges are to rewrite those laws. That power belongs to representatives elected by the people, and no one else. No other candidate - in fact, no other current judge on the court - has that experience to guide them. I will remind my future colleagues time and again that is not their job. ...

The foundational goal of the criminal justice system is to always dispense justice first. If justice - and truth - are not pursued and rendered, every other ostensible goal of the system does not matter. With that, however, comes an obligation to ensure that the constitutional rights of citizens are not trampled upon ...

This election is a turning point for this court. We will either elect more proven conservatives to add to those who were elected last year, and give Texas a respected Court of Criminal Appeals that does not play politics or pursue leftist policy agendas, or we will continue to have a majority that does exactly that. We live in one of the most dangerous eras in the history of our country. In just the last two months, we have seen children murdered in a church in Minnesota, a young woman stabbed to death on a train in Charlotte by a criminal who had been released 13 previous times, and Charlie Kirk assassinated for exercising free speech. We must have judges on our courts in Texas who understand the importance of keeping Texas safe.

It's fairly well documented that civil forfeiture laws have been subject to abuse across the country, and in many, many cases have been used for purposes far beyond their original intent. In general, judges should closely scrutinize civil forfeiture cases before them to ensure their use has not exceeded the original ...

I am a lifelong conservative Republican. My grandfather was a delegate for Barry Goldwater in 1964, and my mother and grandmother instilled conservative GOP values in me as a kid. Beginning in 1988, I attended 4 straight Republican National Conventions, first as a page, then as an alternate delegate, and as a guest. I served on legal teams in 2000 and 2004 when elections were contested (particularly in 2000), and again in 2012 and 2020. I've been a state convention delegate or alternate at least twice, and was selected as a national delegate for Donald Trump in 2020. ...

I've worked with and supported a number of conservative organizations through the years. For example, during my time in the legislative division in the AG's office, I worked consistently with organizations such as the Texas Eagle Forum, Texas Values, and others to support their legislative priorities. That kind of ...

The matter was a pure political witch hunt, and while the Senate came to the correct conclusion, it never should have gotten to that point. The Texas House did lasting damage to the state by engaging in a witch hunt. As someone who has worked for the Attorney General for 12 years, I would be glad to speak more ...

No. Both documents are lasting documents, not living documents. They are lasting documents created upon timeless principles that guide human nature, governance designed to check the excesses of human behavior, and rights that allow for civil life in a free society. They are also documents rooted in God and in ...

A thorough review of the occupations that are required to be licensed by the state is probably warranted. Lawyers should be licensed given their role in society and their power to affect the lives of others through representation of people, adjudication of cases, and other work they do in a variety of roles, but the manner in which attorneys are licensed should be subject to regular review. A related issue of equal importance is how students are trained to become lawyers. For example, Florida has recently proposed ...

The limits are provided for in the plain words of the 10th Amendment, that powers not expressly enumerated to the Federal Government are reserved to the states. That was ignored for decades by activist courts, it has been reigned in recently but not to the degree ...

We have an under-incarceration problem as well as a systemic attack on our justice system by people and groups whose desire it is to sow chaos and violence in our society. When evil does not fear the consequences of the law, a dangerous society is the result. We are living in a low trust society that has ...

Wisdom on the bench is ultimately derived from our Creator and the God given rights He bestows on us. It is the obligation of a judge to never forget that. Also, it was only in the last year or so that this Court began each session by declaring "God save this ...

That depends first on the workload of the court. This court is currently dealing with a heavy workload that stems in part from a backlog caused by it being slow to decide cases and procedural matters. For example, this court heard cases over the summer whereas the Texas Supreme Court did not have regular conferences over the summer (although they did hear emergency matters). It is the obligation of judges to handle cases, motions, and other matters efficiently before doing other things. I'd add, however, that an elected judge should not disappear for years and only emerge again when it's time to run again, ...

My major endorsements are as follows: Katrina Pierson, State Rep Mitch Little, State Rep ...

Justice Thomas is the justice I respect the most, given his life story, what he endured to get to the court, and his philosophy of understanding that the basic function of practicing constitutional law is to understand what the Constitution...

I have had a few traffic tickets in my time. No convictions. No bankruptcies. I did have a somewhat contentious lawsuit against a body shop last year arising out of a car of mine that was stolen from their premises (and later recovered), and poor work they performed on another one of mine. It was settled out ...