"In an unprecedented move," Travis County (TX) District Attorney Ronnie Earle filed a motion "asking a Republican presiding judge to remove himself from the decision about who will be the trial judge in the conspiracy case against Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), the Austin American Statesman reports.
Earle argued that the judge "should step aside for the same reasons" that the previous judge "was removed from hearing DeLay's case: Both had given political donations."
Update: The Austin American Statesman reports Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson "late Thursday afternoon named a senior Democratic judge from San Antonio to hear the conspiracy case against" Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), "despite concerns that Jefferson had too many ties to DeLay's political committee to be impartial."