A Dallas County criminal court judge is suing the county after commissioners voted to give every local judge supplemental compensation — except her.
Dallas County 282nd District Judge Amber Givens filed a lawsuit Monday alleging commissioners unlawfully excluded her from $25,000 in supplemental pay approved for every other district judge in the county during a budget meeting Sept. 9. Givens wants a judge to order the county to compensate her equally and provide back pay for any money previously withheld before the supplement takes effect Oct. 1.
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 a discussion about how supplemental pay is doled out to the county’s judges, Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins moved to amend the fiscal year 2026 budget by giving everyone but Givens the additional $25,000.
“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.
Commissioners approved the amendment, and that line item is missing from next fiscal year’s budget for Givens’ court.
While commissioners didn’t spell out their reasoning for excluding Givens from supplemental pay, “all that stuff” is likely an allusion to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct sanctioning Givens in June for allowing her court coordinator to impersonate her during a Zoom hearing in 2021.
The commission also initiated a complaint against Givens after news broke that more than 100 recusal motions had been filed against her in a short period of time, alleging Givens made unfair rulings and disrespected lawyers.
She was also admonished for two separate incidents in 2023, in which she sentenced a man to jail and revoked another man’s bond after already having been recused from both cases. Givens told the commission she made the orders because the Dallas County courts' electronic docketing system didn't accurately reflect that she'd been recused from the matters, according to sanctioning documents.
Jan Grimsley, the court coordinator for Givens’ court, declined to comment to KERA News. Jenkins' office declined to comment on pending litigation. Commissioner Andy Sommerman declined to comment on the record.
Other commissioners could not immediately be reached for comment. Nuru Witherspoon, Givens' attorney, was not available for comment.
Givens alleges this move violates the Texas Government Code, which states all district judges in a county are entitled to equal supplemental compensation. Assistant county administrator Charles Reed spelled out for commissioners at the meeting the county can give supplemental pay to some district judges and not others, but judges at other levels — such as county court at law judges — would also receive equal supplements as a result.
Commissioners have avoided tying judges’ performance to supplemental pay, but Givens isn’t the only judge with which commissioners have issues.
Commissioner John Wiley Price named nine other judges at the Sept. 9 meeting he would have voted to not give supplemental pay.
“I'm going to be really clear about performance, whether the court embraces it or not, whether or not people show up for work,” Price said.
Toluwani Osibamowo is KERA’s law and justice reporter. Got a tip? Email Toluwani at tosibamowo@kera.org.
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