Thursday, 5 March 2009

The model of a modern attorney general?

Orin Kerr and Eugene Volokh are talking up the likely run for state attorney general by Ted Cruz, the state’s former solicitor general. While I can’t say I’m thrilled about all of Cruz’s political positions, particularly on the social conservative dimension where Cruz makes much of his advocacy for Ten Commandments tomfoolery and takes pride in undermining foreign relations, he does at least seem to be eminently qualified for the post.

As a semi-related aside (perhaps brought on by my learning-more-about-while-teaching Texas government this semester), while in general I’d favor taking a rather large scythe to the number of statewide elected offices in Texas in favor of more gubernatorial appointees in line with the federal model, I’d probably favor keeping the attorney general’s office a separately-elected post, mostly to better promote checks and balances on executive power in a more transparent way.

2 comments:

Any views expressed in these comments are solely those of their authors; they do not reflect the views of the authors of Signifying Nothing, unless attributed to one of us.
[Permalink] 1. BigLaw Associate wrote @ Fri, 6 Mar 2009, 10:51 am CST:

It’s interesting that some people are talking up this guy. I’ve had friends recruited by him, and none accepted after doing due diligence. It’s nearly impossible to find someone who has worked for him that has anything nice to say about him. He’s apparently quite the self-obsessed jerk.

 
[Permalink] 2. I Heart Canada wrote @ Fri, 6 Mar 2009, 3:56 pm CST:

How many other Canadian citizens have been elected to state-wide office in America? I know Michigan’s governor is Canadian. Having another Canadian citizen elected in Texas would be way cool for the Canadians in the US.

 
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