Court records released by the Texas appeals court recently read like a script from Netflix’s popular series House of Cards. Judge Carlos Cortez has no criminal convictions. He has denied all wrongdoing and fought hard for three years to suppress shocking allegations. But the appeals court found that “Cortez’s interest in privacy did not clearly outweigh the presumption of openness” of judicial proceedings.
The allegations stem from records sought out by The Dallas Morning News and Texas Lawyer from a defamation lawsuit Judge Cortez filed against one of his former lawyers.
The documents include sworn testimony that Dallas County civil court judge used cocaine, paid women for sexual favors, choked a woman who claimed he was the father of her child, and sexually assaulted a young girl in her mother’s home.
Dallas police arrested Cortez in December on a felony charge of assaulting his girlfriend. The case was dropped and not prosecuted.
I wonder if Frank Underwood had a hand in this scandal.
