2019 Texas Appellate Hall of Fame Inductees

1925 — Hortense Ward presided over the first all-woman state supreme court in U.S. history

Dylan O. Drummond, president of the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society, and Supreme Court Justice J. Brett Busby, chair of the Appellate Section of the State Bar of Texas, announced the most recent inductees to the Texas Appellate Hall of Fame. The four chief justices in the 2019 class were posthumously honored for their trailblazing marks on Texas legal history. They were inducted at a ceremony held in conjunction with the Advanced Civil Appellate Seminar at the Four Seasons hotel in Austin on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019.

Among the chief justices honored were the first chief justice to preside over the Republic of Texas Supreme Court and the chief justice who presided over the first all-woman state supreme court in U.S. history.

The 2019 inductees are:

THOMAS J. RUSK

Although technically the third chief justice of the Republic, Thomas Rusk was the first to preside over a Supreme Court session. He also authored the Court’s first opinion in 1840. Earlier a signatory to both the Texas Declaration of Independence and its first constitution, Rusk later served as the Republic’s secretary of war. After overseeing the burial of Colonel James Fannin and his garrison killed at Goliad under orders from Mexican President Santa Anna, Rusk ensured Santa Anna’s defeat at San Jacinto a few weeks later by leading the final charge after Sam Houston was wounded.

Hortense Sparks Ward

HORTENSE SPARKS WARD

In 1910, Hortense Sparks Ward became the first woman to pass the Texas bar exam. She later became the first female Texan to be licensed to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. After the all-male Texas Supreme Court was forced to recuse from hearing a cause involving a trustee of a fraternal order in which each Among the chief justices honored were the first chief justice to preside over the Republic of Texas Supreme Court and the chief justice who presided over the first all-woman state supreme court in U.S. history. Justice was a member, Governor Pat Neff appointed Ward as Special Chief Justice—along with two other women—to preside over the case. Appointed on January 1, 1925, this all-woman Supreme Court was the first state high court in the nation composed entirely of women, and Ward was the country’s first woman chief justice. The Court heard oral argument in the case a week later, on January 8, and issued its opinion later that year in May. The decision has been cited numerous times by the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and several Texas appellate courts.

JOHN L. HILL JR.

Before being elected chief justice of the Supreme Court in 1984, John Hill served as both Texas secretary of state and attorney general. While attorney general, Hill argued before the U.S. Supreme Court five times. He resigned from the Court in 1988 to lead an effort to abolish the popular election of judges in Texas. In 1997, Chief Justice Hill was awarded a lifetime achievement award by his alma mater, the University of Texas School of Law. In 2004, the law school established the John L. Hill Trial Advocacy Center in his honor.

AUSTIN McCLOUD

Austin McCloud first took the bench after being appointed to the 32nd District Court in Sweetwater, Texas. In 1970, he was elected chief justice of the Eleventh Court of Appeals at Eastland, Texas. There he served for the next twenty-four years until his retirement in 1994. That same year, Chief Justice McCloud was named Outstanding Jurist of Texas. During his tenure on the appellate bench, Chief Justice McCloud served as president of the Council of Chief Judges of Courts of Appeals of the United States, as well as president of the Council of Chief Justices of Texas Courts of Appeals. AL