A crony of Religious Right pseudo-historian David Barton will not be joining the Texas Supreme Court.
Rick Green, a former Texas state representative and “Christian nation” advocate, narrowly lost his bid for the bench in March to state Supreme Court incumbent Paul Green (no relation). Green has sought the seat before.
That Green was very nearly elected to Texas’ highest court is somewhat shocking. The Dallas Morning News noted that he has been described as a “serial abuser of ethics standards.”
Indeed, Green has quite a checkered past. While serving as a state representative from 1998-2002, Green was accused of using his office as the backdrop to film an infomercial for a dietary supplement. He also drew criticism when he asked the state parole board to grant early release to a man who had defrauded investors but also made a $400,000 loan to a company owned by Green’s father.
While in office, Green pressured state agencies to assist one of his law firm’s clients, supplement maker Metabolife International, and he asked lobbyists to donate to a private foundation he started.
Thanks to these accomplishments, Texas Monthly once put Green on its list of the 10 worst lawmakers in the state.
Green, a Republican, has always denied any wrongdoing. Dogged by controversy, he lost his reelection bid in 2002 to a Democrat.
Green’s troubles are not limited to his time in office. The Texas Observer reported that during Green’s recent campaign for the Supreme Court, he presented himself as conservative both socially and fiscally. Yet Green is embroiled in a fuss concerning a loan of nearly $500,000 that he received from the city of Gonzales in 2014 to renovate a local hotel and restaurant. It seems that business hasn’t been doing so well, leaving Green unable to pay off the loan.
Green is a devotee of Barton, a Texas-based Religious Right figure who claims the United States was founded to be an officially “Christian nation.” Barton’s WallBuilders website lists Green as a “national speaker, author, and radio host” who “travels the nation speaking for David Barton’s WallBuilders organization and Rick and David co-host the national daily radio program, WallBuilders Live!”
Green also runs a camp for young people called “Patriot Academy.” He bills it as “a six-day political training and leadership program where students age sixteen to twenty-five learn about America’s system of government from a Biblical worldview.”
