Media Credit: Jordan Gomez N. Alex Winslow, executive director of Texas Watch, briefs reporters on the complaints filed against Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht at a press conference Tuesday morning.

Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht faces a new round of misconduct complaints, this time over how he paid for his legal defense against abuse of office charges.

Hecht reportedly amassed $450,000 in legal expenses to fight an admonition from the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct over allegations that he improperly used his position to boost the U.S. Supreme Court nomination of former girlfriend Harriet Miers, a bid that failed in 2005. According to the Texas Ethics Commission, Hecht raised $447,000 for his defense

The citizens' group Texas Watch filed complaints on Tuesday against Hecht with the Public Integrity Unit of the Travis County District Attorney's Office, the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct and the Texas Ethics Commission over a questionable discount Hecht received on his legal bill from the Texas-based firm Jackson Walker.

Charles L. "Chip" Babcock, Hecht's attorney at Jackson Walker during his admonition case, said he thought it was appropriate to provide a 25-percent allocation for pro bono service based on the First Amendment issues involved.

"Justice Hecht was censured by the Judicial Conduct Commission for speaking to the media about his good friend Harriet Miers, who had been nominated by the president for a seat on the United States Supreme Court," Babcock said. "I believe that Justice Hecht had a First Amendment right to do that, and, in any event, he had not violated any canons of judicial conduct."

The commission concluded that Hecht used his seat to benefit Miers' candidacy, but a Fort Worth judicial panel overturned the admonition on the grounds that the state's legal code was vague.

N. Alex Winslow, executive director of Texas Watch, said the 25-percent discount amounted to a $100,000 donation to Hecht. The group claims this donation violated either the $30,000 campaign contribution limit imposed on law firms, or the Texas law prohibiting judges from accepting benefits from anyone the judge knows is likely to come before his or her court.

In addition to Jackson Walker, Hecht's top benefactors include Miers' Dallas firm Locke Liddell & Sapp, which gave $25,000, and Houston firms Vinson & Elkins and Baker Botts, which gave $25,000 and $15,000, respectively. According to Winslow, Hecht potentially faces a compromising conflict of interest if he hears cases involving firms that financed his defense.

"We've got a very prominent law firm that has given a discount or a gift to a judge on the high court, and the question implicit in that is, for what purpose?" Winslow said. "We need to make sure that our judges, certainly those on the highest court in the land, are behaving and acting without any question of impropriety."

If convicted, Hecht faces up to one year in prison and a $4,000 fine. He also faces a fine of three times the amount of the illegal contribution, or $300,000, if the commission finds that he violated campaign contribution guidelines. Hecht was unavailable for comment.

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