On his campaign website, Kurt Kuhn, the Democrats’ nominee for a seat on Austin’s 3rd Court of Appeals, touts endorsements by three former Texas Supreme Court justices, all Republicans. Former Chief Justice Tom Phillips and former Justices Craig Enoch and Scott Brister confirm they have endorsed Kuhn, a partner in Austin’s Brown McCarroll. Phillips, now a partner in Baker Botts in Austin, says, “Most of us who have been on the [Supreme] Court in recent years do not regard the judiciary as a partisan enterprise.” Enoch, a shareholder in Winstead in Austin, says, “I’m retired [from the bench], so I’m free to express my opinion.” Brister, a partner in Andrews Kurth in Austin, says he has known Kuhn for a long time. “I think he’ll do a great job,” Brister says. Kuhn says he is trying to run a broad bipartisan campaign.  “I’m not going to be a Democrat if I’m elected; I’m going to be a judge,” he says.

Read more in Texas Lawyer Blog.

Five of ten statewide Democratic candidates made appearances at Robinson Park in Llano, at the “Hill Country Blowout” organized in large part by Bob and Lynda Gammage of Llano.

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The list of distinguished guests included gubernatorial candidate (and former mayor of Houston) Bill White, lieutenant governor candidate Linda Chavez-Thompson, land commissioner candidate Hector Uribe, railroad commissioner candidate Jeff Weems, judicial candidates Keith Hampton (Court of Criminal Appeals) and Kurt Kuhn (Court of Appeals), state board of education candidate Rebecca Bell-Metereau, county commissioner candidate Jerry Don Moss (Pct. #4) and county clerk candidate Cynthia Chisolm of Burnet County.

Read more in The Llano News.

Fresh on the heels of being voted “best qualified” by the State Bar of Texas judicial poll, and endorsed by the Texas Municipal Police Association, Democratic candidate for Third Court of Appeals Kurt Kuhn will visit Lampasas to speak about his campaign and the importance of the court.

Read more in the Lampasas Dispatch Record.

Kurt Kuhn, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary for Justice of Third Court of Appeals, said that as the only board-certified appellate lawyer in the running, he is far more qualified than both of his Republican opponents.

“It doesn’t really matter [which Republican] wins the primary,” Kuhn said. “We’re going to run our same strategy, which is we’re going to try to be out at all 24 counties in our district, and we think to win you need to do that.”

Read more in The Daily Texan.

Kurt Kuhn announced on January 15 that he has now raised a total of $120,149.98 in his campaign for the Third Court of Appeals. “I am humbled by the support and encouragement that I have received from so many people across the district, and from leading attorneys statewide,” stated Kuhn. Over the past six months, the Kuhn campaign received 204 donations from 183 individual donors, for an average of $279 per contribution. Overall, Kuhn has received support from 402 donors throughout his campaign.

Read more in the Hill Country Times.

The Austin American-Statesman posted an excellent in-depth article about the backlog on the Third Court of Appeals, how the court works, and why it is imperative that Justice Patterson’s seat be filled by a true appellate expert. Excerpts are below.

The appeals court serving the Austin area for years the least efficient appellate court in Texas has finally made progress cleaning up an extensive backlog of cases that delayed justice and led some litigants to drop appeals as the years dragged on.

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Appellate law is nuanced, subtle, arcane and complex; the workload is heavy. A hardworking justice can average a new merits opinion — rulings deciding a case that are often five to 10 pages but sometimes novella length — every 2½ workdays.

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The 3rd Court’s docket, heavy on complex appeals about regulatory rules and actions by state government, is considered to be the most challenging in Texas. And with at least 800 cases arriving each year — more than 130 per judge — there is little slack in the court’s schedule.

Read the whole article in the Austin American-Statesman.

In the race to replace Patterson on the 3rd Court, which hears civil and criminal cases from a 24-county swath of central and west Texas, Republican Austin lawyer Scott Field has a decisive fund-raising advantage over his primary opponent Melissa Goodwin.

Field raised $28,011 from July 1 to Dec. 31 and had $28,085 in contributions in his bank account at the end of the reporting period. Goodwin, a former district judge and justice of the peace in Travis County, raised $1,195 in the recent reporting period and had $2,265 to spend as of Dec. 31.

Austin lawyer Kurt Kuhn, a Democrat, will face the winner of that primary. Kuhn has reported that as of Dec. 31 he has raised $56,956 since July and has $57,238 to spend.

The local political scene was busy this week, with the Milam County Republican Party celebrating the opening of its headquarters and the Democrats welcoming to the community Kurt Kuhn, candidate for the Texas Third Court of Appeals.

Read more at the Cameron Herald.

This Saturday The West Williamson County Democrats and The East Williamson County Democratic Club are sponsoring a chance to meet Democratic candidate for the 3rd Court of Appeals Kurt Kuhn.

Read more at Eye on Williamson

First off, let’s call the race for the 3rd Court of Appeals Place 4 a local race. The winner of the spot on the intermediate appeals court that decides civil and criminal cases will be chosen from voters in Travis and 23 other central and west Texas counties.

In the Republican primary, Melissa Goodwin, 44, a former Travis County justice of the peace and criminal state district judge, will face Austin civil lawyer Scott Field, 40.

The winner will face Austin lawyer Kurt Kuhn in the November general election. Kuhn, 39, has no Democratic primary opponent.

The 3rd Court place is open because Democrat Jan Patterson, who has served on the court since 1999, is running for the 201st District Court in Travis County, a civil bench.

Read more at the Statesman