Nathan Hecht
Republican | Texas
Candidate Profile
Conservative
BIOGRAPHY
Name
Nathan Hecht
Party
Republican
Election Year
2014
Election
Primary
Race
Chief Justice, Supreme Court
Incumbent
Yes
Links
EDUCATION
SMU Law School, Dallas TX, J.D. cum laude, 1974
Yale University, New Haven CT, B.A. (honors in philosophy), 1971
WORK & MILITARY
U.S. Navy JAG Corps, Lieutenant, 1971-1979
AFFILIATIONS
Cornerstone Christian Church, Dallas, elder, teacher, pianist, Christian Union
contributor, Christ Church, Austin, contributor
Pioneer Bible Translators, contributor, Good News Productions Int'l
contributor, Bumps Mission to Mexico, contributor
Cookson Hills Christian Missionaries, contributor, Central India Christian Mission
POLITICAL OFFICES HELD
Justice, Supreme Court of Texas, Pl. 6, 1989-2014
Justice, Dallas Court of Appeals, 1986-1988
POLITICAL OFFICES SOUGHT
(Candidate did not provide)
Race
Previous Races
ENDORSEMENTS
CONSERVATIVE (4)
Texans for Fiscal Responsibility
Texas Alliance for Life PAC
Texas Right to Life
Young Conservatives of Texas
OTHER (1)
Texas Civil Justice League
REPORTED BY CANDIDATE (6)
Texas Right to Life PAC
Texas Alliance for Life PAC
Texans for Lawsuit Reform
Texas Civil Justice League
DFW Conservative Voters
SELECTED CONTRIBUTIONS
CONSERVATIVE
GIVEN BY CANDIDATE (1)
Local, County, and District Republican Organizations
RECEIVED BY CANDIDATE (13)
Bass Family PACs
DFW Conservative Voters
Empower Texans
Giovanni Capriglione
Local, County, and District Republican Organizations
LIBERAL
GIVEN BY CANDIDATE (1)
Laborers International Union of North America
RECEIVED BY CANDIDATE (0)
OTHER INFORMATION
QUESTIONNAIRE
OTHER IMPORTANT ISSUES
1. Election of judges by the people for a definite term of office is the best way to select judges.
Agree
2. The U.S. Constitution is a living document and should be interpreted according to the circumstances of each generation.
Strongly Disagree
3. Foreign laws should be used in American courts even where those laws conflict with constitutional rights.
Strongly Disagree
4. Free enterprise and the right to private property turn mankind's natural self interest into the fairest and most productive economic system there is, and are the key to national prosperity.
Strongly Agree
5. Which current Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court best reflects your judicial philosophy?
Justice Antonin Scalia
6. Which U.S. president elected to that office in 1960 or thereafter best reflects your political philosophy?
President Ronald Reagan
7. Which U.S. Supreme Court decision do you think has most impacted society? Please explain your answer.
The decision that has most positively impacted society is Marbury v. Madison by the great Chief Justice John Marshall, because it held that the Constitution and the rights it guarantees — like freedom of speech and religion, and the right to bear arms — must be the supreme law of the land. There are many decisions that have negatively impacted society.
8. Based on the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, please arrange the following entities, starting with the highest source of authority, and continue the list in descending order of authority, skipping any that do not apply: Academia, Congress, Constitution, God, Industry, Media, Professional Sports, Supreme Court, Voters.
God, the Constitution, Voters, Supreme Court, Congress
9. What in the nature of mankind caused America’s Founders to carefully define, separate, and limit powers within the Constitution?
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
10. Please give an example of a judicial decision where strict constructionist policy was violated. Explain.
Griswold v. Connecticut, because it found a right to privacy in the Constitution’s “penumbra”, which doesn’t exist.
11. What is the proper use of legislative history in interpreting statutory law?
Statutes should mean what they say. They should be interpreted according to their text, not legislative history.
12. What specific text in the Declaration of Independence provides the critical basis for individual rights and the form of government guaranteed in the United States Constitution?
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
13. Briefly describe your spiritual beliefs and values.
I have always been a Christian and am a church pianist, Sunday School teacher, elder, and committed financial supporter of numerous missions.
