The Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) has announced the appointment of Derek Cohen by Governor Greg Abbott to the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct. Cohen will join 12 other members on the commission, with his term set to expire in November 2029.

Cohen, who holds a Ph.D., serves as the vice president of public policy at TPPF and is also a senior fellow with the Right on Crime initiative. Prior to his current role, he was the director of Right on Crime, a criminal justice reform initiative. According to his biography on TPPF's website, Cohen played a significant role in the passage of the First Step Act in 2018, a bipartisan federal effort aimed at reforming the national criminal justice system.

His biography further reveals that Cohen previously worked as a researcher at the University of Cincinnati's Institute of Crime Science. He also completed three advanced statistical trainings at the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICSPR), held at the University of Michigan.

As stated on its website, the mission of the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct is to "protect the public, promote public confidence in integrity, independence, competence, and impartiality of the judiciary, and encourage judges to maintain high standards of conduct both on and off the bench."

The State Commission on Judicial Conduct was established by the Texas Constitution as a 13-member body. Members serve six-year terms with appointments made by various entities: six judges are appointed by The Supreme Court of Texas; two attorneys are appointed by The State Bar of Texas; and five citizens are appointed by the governor.

Cohen expressed his gratitude for his appointment in a statement released by TPPF: "An independent and impartial judiciary is the keystone of our constitutional order and critical to the civic health of our great state," he said. "I am honored to have been selected for this post, and look forward to contributing to the continued vitality of our hallowed institutions."