§ 101.053.Judicial

The judicial counterpart to the legislative exclusion, with an addition that reaches further.

The chapter does not apply to a claim based on an act or omission of a court of this state or any member of a court acting in his official capacity, or to a judicial function of a governmental unit.

"Official capacity" is defined broadly: it means all duties of office and includes administrative decisions or actions. So the protection is not confined to deciding cases — a judge's administrative acts in running the court are covered too.

The reason judicial immunity is ancient and near-absolute is that judges decide against someone in nearly every case. A judge who could be sued by every losing party would decide differently, and that is the harm the immunity prevents.

Subsection (b) extends the protection to the people who carry orders out: the chapter does not apply to a claim based on an act or omission of an employee in the execution of a lawful order of any court.

That is a significant extension. A constable executing a writ, a clerk acting on a court order, an officer carrying out a commitment — each is protected for executing the order, and the claimant's recourse is against the order rather than the person obeying it.

"Lawful" is the condition. The protection attaches to executing a lawful order, which leaves conduct exceeding an order, or executing one facially invalid, outside the subsection.