02/18/2026
A Smith County child is being removed from the only home he’s ever known, by an unelected "judge" in Panola County, and the woman awarded custody - by formerly-elected "judge" Lauren Parish - is awaiting trial on felony charges and family court civil appeals are still pending.
The family fighting for him now faces jail and crushing legal costs. Help us stand with them.
www.givesendgo.com/whereislisa
- About "Visiting Judges" -
Texas calls them “visiting judges.” Regular people see something different: a person placed over their case who was never elected by them, never filed campaign finance reports in their county, never disclosed finances to their community, and never has to face the voters whose lives they are about to alter. The justification is administrative efficiency — docket control, recusals, backlog. But constitutional government is not built on convenience. Judicial power in Texas is supposed to flow from the people. When someone exercises full judicial authority over citizens who had no voice in placing that person on the bench, the chain of democratic accountability becomes thin at best.
An elected judge answers to voters. They can be removed at the ballot box. They must publicly campaign. They must disclose. A retired or traveling judge assigned by administrative order answers upward in the bureaucracy, not outward to the people standing before them. There is no electoral consequence if they disregard community standards or stretch the law. No campaign to lose. No voters to persuade. That may be technically authorized by statute, but authorization is not the same thing as legitimacy. In a republic, power is respected when it is accountable. When judicial authority appears to be arbitrarily placed, insulated from voters, and immune from local consequence, citizens are not wrong to question why they should simply accept it without scrutiny.
Parish's Questionable History:
www.cbs19.tv/article/news/judge-accused-of-campaign-fraud-fights-back/501-266971948
www.kltv.com/story/33449767/east-texas-judge-resigns-from-gop-over-presidential-nominee/