In October a video was posted online by a young woman who had evidently been abused by her father for years. What made the video “go viral” was the fact that it was seven or eight minutes of verbal profanity and physical beating with a belt by a sitting Texas judge. While the judge has been suspended, with pay, by the Texas Supreme Court, he will not be prosecuted, since the statute of limitations has passed. Even though calls for his resignation have been many and passionate, he does not seem inclined to do so.
While some on the left have tried to use this event to advance their agenda of outlawing spanking, Texas officials note that charges would have been filed for abuse had this come to light sooner. Let me be clear: This was not spanking; it was physical abuse.
I would, however, draw a different lesson from this sordid episode. Local officials have been quoted as saying this man was a “fair and impartial judge.” I doubt that to be the case, if he would treat his daughter in this manner, and local citizens probably agree. Some have said that this will end the career of this judge, who has ruled in many, many cases regarding whether or not parents were fit enough to maintain custody of their children.
A final hearing is set for tomorrow in Fort Worth in the parental rights case in which we have been involved for more than a year. I would not try to equate the judge in that case to the one mentioned above, but his pattern of removing children from their fit parents for years at a time on “temporary” orders strikes me as abusive—and far from impartial. The final hearing tomorrow will present a motion by the father’s attorneys to ask the judge to require the non-parents who brought this suit to pay his legal fees. The judge could demonstrate his impartiality by granting that request, but I’m not holding my breath. The non-parent’s attorney will be trying to dredge up old charges, settled by the jury trial in August, to seek damages against the fit father.
These issues clearly demonstrate how important it is to elect truly fair and impartial judges in Texas. THSC PAC will be working hard in the upcoming elections to unseat the judges who are not impartial and who have a low view of the constitutional right of fit parents to direct the care, control, and upbringing of their children.
About Tim Lambert
Thank you for posting about Judge William Adams, my ex-husband. I find it interesting that you have written about him, as I homeschooled Hillary Adams for at least eight years, and she became a Coca-Cola Scholar her senior year and graduated with quite a few honors that any parent should have been proud of. I agree. It was abuse and I am sorry that I did not take a more active role in preventing it. I tried in my own way at what I had to work with at the time, but more education- especially for dependent non-working mothers of homeschoolers-needs to occur, to let the mothers know there are ways out of the abusive environment.