Sam Nuchia's Rare Reversals

In endorsing Justice Sam Nuchia of the First Court of Appeals for reelection today, the Houston Chronicle offers an interesting rationale: Sam has not been reversed much by the Texas Supreme Court.

There are 80 justices on the courts of appeals. Assuming the Supreme Court decides 144 cases a year, as it did in FY 2007, what are the odds of high court review for any one justice? Not very high. Not to mention that the reversal rate for the Houston courts of appeals is lower than that of other parts of the state.

As it happens Justice Nuchia was reversed just last week, albeit in a case in which rather than writing the panel's majority opinion, he supplied the second vote. See Thao Chau v. Jefferson Riddle, M.D., No. 07-0035 (Tex. Feb. 15, 2008)(per curiam)

Bad timing.

HOUSTON CHRONICLE ENDORSEMENT OF SAM NUCHIA OVER ED HUBBARD IN THE REPUBLICAN PRIMARY

Editorial

Feb. 17, 2008, 10:58PM

Primary endorsements

The Chronicle recommends a vote for the

• 1st Court of Appeals, Place 3, Republican Sam Nuchia — The incumbent in this seat on an important intermediate court, Nuchia is a former Houston police chief. Rarely reversed by the Texas Supreme Court, Nuchia wrote the admirable opinion reversing the wrongful conviction of Andrea Yates, who was mentally ill when she drowned her five children in the bath.