A federal appeals court has ordered the removal of a federal judge and overturned her contempt and fine charges against the state of Texas in a lawsuit over the state’s debt. a struggling foster care system.
In a ruling released late Friday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said U.S. District Judge Janis Jack’s contempt ruling and $100,000 per day fine violate constitutional limits on the court’s power over individual states .
The appeals court also said Jack had disrespected the state and its attorneys during the long-running case, noting that at one point she remarked, “I don’t know how the state sleeps at night with this.” No way.”
“The judge has exhibited a continuing pattern, over the course of months and countless hearings, of disrespect for the defendants and their counsel, but no such attitude toward plaintiffs’ counsel,” the ruling said.
The judge’s attitude shows a “high degree of antagonism”, calling into question at least “the appearance of fairness” for the state, the ruling said.
An attorney for those who filed the lawsuit, alleging that the state routinely fails to investigate complaints of abuse and neglect filed by children in its care, said Saturday that the group will appeal the ruling.
“Frankly, this is a sad day for children in Texas,” attorney Paul Yetter said in an email.
“For more than a decade, Judge Jack pushed the state to fix its broken system,” Yetter said. “She deserves a medal for what she has done.”
The case began in 2011 with a lawsuit over foster care conditions before the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, the child welfare division of Texas Health and Human Services.
Since 2019, court-appointed monitors have issued periodic reports on DFPS’s progress in eliminating threats to the safety of its foster children.
A reported earlier this year cited progress in staff training but continued shortcomings in responding to investigations into allegations of abuse and neglect, including of children.
In one case, plaintiffs say, a girl was left in the same, now closed, residential facility for a year while 12 separate investigations piled up around allegations that she was raped by an employee there.
Texas has approximately 9,000 children in permanent state custody due to reasons including the loss of caregivers, abuse at home or health needs that parents cannot meet alone.