More than 13 years after a Corpus Christi judge began overseeing a case on Texas’ struggling foster care system, a federal appeals court has removed her and vacated her order of contempt against the state, jeopardizing the future of the lawsuit.
A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled late Friday that U.S. District Judge Janis Jack’s “intemperate conduct on the bench” could reasonably make an observer question her impartiality, granting Gov. Greg Abbott’s request that the case be reassigned. Abbott is a defendant alongside the heads of two state agencies that manage the foster care system.
The New Orleans judges also struck down Jack’s April order that would have fined the state hundreds of thousands of dollars for contempt of court.
Jack had become “too personally involved in the proceedings” and exhibited a “highly antagonistic demeanor” toward the defendants, Judge Edith Jones wrote in a 36-page opinion joined by panel judges Edith Clement and Cory Wilson.