The Harris County District Clerk's Office: a pivotal part of the court system

Marilyn Burgess, center. Source: https://www.hcdistrictclerk.com/Common/Default.aspx

In an effort to keep somewhat abreast of what of organizations and events around Houston and Harris. County, I am going to try to put up at least one post a week of something I have attended and the takeaways, along with resources and how to get involved.

There are dozens of groups under the umbrella of Harris County Democrats and I should stress - as Lili Schecter did last month - that you don’t have to join all of them, but find a couple to support and do what you can for them.

Blue Bayou Democrats, who host a monthly “Democracy Cafe” have a number of events regularly on the calendar. This past Tuesday night, they hosted Marilyn Burgess, Harris County District Clerk and like a number of people, had you asked me what the country district clerk did, I would be hard-pressed to answer.

As it happens, she does plenty. To say that the HC district clerk oversees the functioning of the country courts doesn’t quite do justice to the enormity of the enterprise. Bearing in mind how large the area is, it is astonishing that Marilyn and her team of 600 clerks administers the functioning of 83 statutory courses divided between 24 divisions. 

I cna’t do justice to everything she covered. Tuesday night, so I wil myself to emphasizing that you check out the Harris County District Court’s website and I’ll just mention some points Marilyn brought up and some of the resources her office provides that I had no clue about.

One thing that stood out is something she said at the outset;  many of the challengers owe to there being “a target on the county’s back”. It is no surprise and it is common knowledge that Harris County finds itself in Austin’s crosshairs. It is a blue oasis in a very red state and, much as the city of Houston, has found itself getting shorted on funding on harangued both verbally and legislatively. 

This makes what Marilyn and her team have accomplished even more impressive. Off the bat, the office has a robust IT department that has been dedicated to migrating from paper to electronic files and document storage. This pertains not just to current judicial matters, but to historical documents, as well.

In fact, the county maihtains a separate building just east of downtown at 5900 Canal Street. The Rcords Management Office houses all the closed cases going all the way back got the Republic of Texas. In addition to maintaining all electronic files, this is where all trial exhibits are stored. Retention periods are variable; a couple of years for misdemeanors but for murder cases, these are held for the remainder of the life of the convicted. 

The Harris County District Clerk’s office also handles all jury summons and it is here that Burgess and her team face an uphill battle. Jury selection does not reflect the diversity of Harris County itself. Most of the people who actually answer summonses skew older and white.

Th.e reasons for this are not too difficult to find; compensation has been ridiculously small for people called to serve. Six dollars for the whole day was the standard for years, but more recently, owing to Marilyn’s lobbying, the per diem is now forty dollars a day. You are given a debit card at the completion of your service to spend as you see fit and this is obviously an improvement, though many people claim exemptions or just don’t show. 

Out of one million summons, only 100,000 actually show. up. The Clerk’s Office is attempting to woo people to be more responsive and expedite matters by setting up a pre-registration process as well as launching public outreach campaigns like the You Complete Justice campaign. 

One of the major issues exacerbating a greater degree of diversity, of course, is the federal mandate to remove all mention of DEI. The challenge here, of course, is how do you expand diversity and inclusivity in your jury selection without explicitly stating that is what you are doing? Obviously, this is hitting institutions across the country, but as Marilyn pointed out, a 20 year old Black man is going to have a different point of view from, say, her. How to include that. Voice and others like him? 

You can also apply for a passport at the Harris County District Clerk’s Office. If memory serves, this is on a Saturday, once a month, but if you call ahead, you are guaranteed a place and it seems to be quicker and easier than going to the post office. A satellite office dedicated to passport applications will be opening next month at 5900 Canal Street. 

You can also take a Courthouse Complex tour, during which you get to see all the mechanisms that go into court trials. 

At the risk of being more redundant than usual, for more information here’s the Harris County District Clerk’s Office homepage: https://www.hcdistrictclerk.com/Common/Default.aspx.

Set aside some time and do yourself a favor; if nothing else, you will come away with a greater understand of how our court system works and a deep appreciation for this office’s part.

Also, Bayou Blue Dems website. If you’re looking for an answer to “what can I do?”, it can begin here. https://bayoubluedems.com/.