Hecht raised $447,000 for defense
The Associated Press
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AUSTIN -- The state's top law firms and their attorneys donated $447,000 to help Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht defend himself against charges that he abused his judicial office to promote Harriet Miers, his onetime girlfriend, for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court.
The biggest donors were the firm Vinson & Elkins and its attorneys at $30,000. Baker Botts and its employees, including former Texas Supreme Court Justice Tom Phillips, kicked in another $26,000, according to Texas Ethics Commission reports filed Sunday by Hecht.
Both Houston-based law firms routinely practice in front of the Texas Supreme Court, the state's highest civil court.
Locke Liddell & Sapp, the Dallas law firm that Miers returned to this year after serving as President Bush's White House counsel, contributed $25,100 to Hecht's legal defense fund.
Hecht successfully fought a State Commission on Judicial Conduct sanction alleging he improperly used his official position to promote Miers.
Texas Watch, a consumer advocacy group, criticized Hecht for waiting to reveal his contributors, adding that the senior justice should recuse himself from cases involving those who bankrolled his legal defense. Hecht was not legally required to report who donated until Monday.>>>>snip
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