The only Dallas County judge singled out from getting an extra $25,000 may get paid after all.
After being sued, commissioners will vote on Tuesday whether to amend the budget to include Judge Amber Givens.
KERA reached out to Givens' attorney and will update this story if there is a response.
Givens, who presides over the 282nd District Court, sued the county for being excluded from a budgeted $500,000 pay supplement for judges.
Criticism about showing up for work and state sanctions led commissioners to approve the supplement for all judges... except her.
Days before Givens filed the lawsuit, Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins read amendment clarifications during a budget hearing.
"The supplement, the maximum judicial supplement of $25,000 was awarded to all judges, with the exception of the Honorable Amber Givens, who did not receive a supplement."
Texas counties can give district court judges up to $25,000 in supplemental pay. That's up from $18,000 after the Texas Legislature approved a base pay raise for state judges this year, effective Sept. 1.
During one hearing, Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins moved to amend the budget.
“I'd like to make a friendly amendment, perhaps — or maybe it's not friendly — but I would like to vote on Amber Givens separately given all that stuff,” Jenkins said.
Givens had been sanctioned by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct while the county was working on its 2026 fiscal year budget.
Commissioner John Wiley Price argued at that time that good, hard-working county employees should get supplements and pay adjustments.
"They probably brought their ass to work, and they probably had to work," he said. "And, you know, this is real difficult. It's not like I'm gonna get invited to the Kwanzaa party."
The Texas commission reprimanded Givens on June 23 for allowing her coordinator to impersonate her online four years ago, according to disciplinary documents.
Defense lawyers had filed a complaint to the state.
Givens also was admonished for putting a man in jail and revoking another offender’s bond after she had recused herself from those cases.
Documents show that in 2022, more than 100 recusal motions had been filed against her in a short period.
The sanction document says that Givens maintains that in 2023 the district clerk's office did not update the county courts docketing system to reflect her recusals.
Lawyers and prosecutors have accused Givens of "making unfair rulings, treating lawyers with disrespect, and having a "retaliatory nature," according to the commission's documents.
"Judge Givens' failures in the foregoing respects constituted willful and/or persistent conduct that is clearly inconsistent with the proper performance of her judicial duties and cast public discredit upon judiciary or the administration of justice..." the commission's reprimand concluded, so Givens "should be publicly admonished for failing to comply with and maintain professional competence in the law," among other failures.
The sanction came after the Kaufman County District Attorney's Office declined to bring criminal charges against Judge Amber Givens after she was accused of allowing her court coordinator to impersonate her during a Zoom hearing in 2021.
Law and Justice Reporter Toluwani Osibamowo contributed to this report.
Got a tip? Email Marina Trahan Martinez at mmartinez@kera.org. You can follow Marina at @HisGirlHildy.
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