§ 21.031.Appointment; Termination of Employment; Duties

A different allocation of the same decision, for a different court.

Subsection (a): the judge of a county court at law may appoint an official interpreter for that court, and may terminate that interpreter’s employment at any time.

Subsection (b): the commissioners court shall prescribe the duties of the official interpreter.

Compare the district court provision. There the judge requests and designates, and the commissioners court must appoint. Here the judge appoints directly, and the commissioners court is left with the duties.

"May" makes the appointment discretionary, unlike the district court route, which the commissioners court must follow once a judge has determined the need.

"At any time" makes the position an at-will one with no cause requirement, no notice, and no procedure — which is unusual for a court officer who takes a constitutional oath and holds the position for a term.

The reason is probably practical rather than principled: an interpreter whose renderings a judge cannot rely on is a problem that has to be solved immediately, and a removal procedure would leave the court sitting in the meantime.

The split between appointment and duties is worth noticing. The judge chooses the person; the commissioners court defines the job. Where an interpreter serves several courts, or has administrative work alongside interpreting, that division decides how their time is allocated.

Note that this subchapter is not confined by its terms to any particular language, unlike the two before it.