KSAT Investigates found a wide disparity in how often Bexar County civil district court judges are available to assist the presiding court. The records raise questions about whether some judges have been forced to take on additional workload in a court system designed to farm out hearings each morning.
Court status sheets covering mid-January through the end of July — 133 days that the courts were in session — show that several judges were listed as available to assist in presiding just over 70% of the time. A source provided the records to KSAT on the condition of anonymity after the Office of Civil District Courts Administration denied a similar public records request from KSAT late this summer. In written statements, multiple judges pushed back on KSAT’s reporting and praised the presiding system, claiming that the status sheets are not a detailed record of judicial attendance or effort and that they do not account for the judges’ other work dutie