On Wednesday, September 17, 2025, KERA News reported that Dallas County 282nd District Judge Amber Givens sued the county after commissioners excluded her from supplemental pay.
The lawsuit alleges the commissioners unlawfully denied her $25,000 in supplemental pay, which was approved for every other district judge in the county during a budget meeting on September 9. Givens is seeking a court order to compel the county to provide her with equal compensation and back pay for any funds withheld before the supplement takes effect on October 1.
Texas counties have the option of providing district court judges with supplemental pay up to $25,000, increased from $18,000 after the Texas Legislature approved a base pay raise for state judges, effective September 1.
During a discussion on supplemental pay for the county’s judges, Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins proposed amending the fiscal year 2026 budget to exclude Givens from receiving the additional $25,000. Jenkins stated he would like to vote on Amber Givens separately. The commissioners approved the amendment, resulting in the omission of the line item for Givens’ court from the upcoming fiscal year’s budget.
While the commissioners did not explicitly state their reasons for excluding Givens from supplemental pay, their decision is likely connected to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct sanctioning Givens in June. The sanction stemmed from allegations that Givens allowed her court coordinator to impersonate her during a Zoom hearing in 2021.
The sanction followed a more than two-year investigation by the Texas Rangers, after which the Kaufman County District Attorney’s Office declined to file criminal charges against Givens and her court coordinator in 2023.
The commission also initiated a complaint against Givens following reports of over 100 recusal motions filed against her in a short period, alleging unfair rulings and disrespect towards lawyers. She was also admonished for two separate incidents in 2023, where she sentenced a man to jail and revoked another man’s bond after she had already been recused from both cases. Givens explained to the commission that the Dallas County courts’ electronic docketing system did not accurately reflect her recusal from the matters.
Givens argues that the county’s action violates the Texas Government Code, which stipulates that all district judges in a county are entitled to equal supplemental compensation. Assistant county administrator Charles Reed informed commissioners that the county could provide supplemental pay to some district judges and not others, but judges at other levels would also receive equal supplements as a result.
During the September 9 meeting, Commissioner John Wiley Price identified nine other judges he would not have voted for supplemental pay.
Source: KERA News
