Supreme Court of Texas - wikipedia Supreme Court of Texas Supreme Court of Texas Seal of the Supreme Court Established February 19, 1846 Country Texas, United States Location Austin, Texas Composition method Election Authorized by Constitution of Texas Decisions are appealed to Supreme Court of the United States Judge term length 6 years ; renewable No. of positions 9 Website Official website Chief Justice Currently Nathan Hecht Since October 1, 2013 Jurist term ends December 31, 2020 The Supreme Court of Texas ( `` SCOTX '' ) is the court of last resort for civil appeals ( including juvenile delinquency which the law considers to be a civil matter and not criminal ) in the U.S. state of Texas. A different court, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, is the court of last resort for criminal matters. The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. It was established in 1846 to replace the Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas. The Court meets in Downtown Austin, Texas in a building located on the state Capitol grounds, behind the Texas State Capitol. Contents 1 Regulation of the legal profession in Texas 2 Unique procedural aspects 3 Justices of the Court 3.1 Election of members of the Court 3.2 Women on the Court 3.3 Current justices 3.4 History of membership of the Court 3.5 Succession of seats 4 Supreme Court Committees 5 2014 Texas Supreme Court judicial election 6 School funding decision 7 Notes 8 Further reading 9 External links Regulation of the Legal profession in Texas By statute, the Texas Supreme Court has administrative control over the State Bar of Texas, an agency of the judiciary. The Texas Supreme Court has the sole authority to license attorneys in Texas, and also appoints the members of the Board of Law Examiners which, under instructions of the Supreme Court, administers the Texas bar examination. Unique procedural aspects The Texas Supreme Court is the only state supreme court in the United States in which the manner in which it denies discretionary review can actually imply approval or disapproval of the merits of the lower court 's decision and in turn may affect the geographic extent of the precedential effect of that decision. In March 1927, the Texas Legislature enacted a law directing the Texas Supreme Court to summarily refuse to hear applications for writs of error when it believed the Court of Appeals opinion correctly stated the law. Thus, since June 1927, over 4,100 decisions of the Texas Courts of Appeals have become valid binding precedent of the Texas Supreme Court itself because the high court refused applications for writ of error rather than denying them and thereby signaled that it approved of their holdings as the law of the state. While Texas ' unique practice saved the state supreme court from having to hear relatively minor cases just to create uniform statewide precedents on those issues, it also makes for lengthy citations to the opinions of the Courts of Appeals, since the subsequent writ history of the case must always be noted ( e.g., no writ, writ refused, writ denied, etc. ) in order for the reader to determine at a glance whether the cited opinion is binding precedent only in the district of the Court of Appeals in which it was decided, or binding precedent for the entire state. Justices of the Court The Court has a Chief Justice and eight associate justices. Each member of the Court must be at least 35 years of age, a citizen of Texas, licensed to practice law in Texas, and must have practiced law ( or have been a lawyer and a judge of a court of record together ) for at least ten years. The Clerk of the Court is appointed by the Justices and serves a four - year term. Election of members of the Court Texas Supreme Court Building The Chief Justice and the Associate Justices are elected to staggered six - year terms in statewide partisan elections. When a vacancy arises the Governor of Texas may appoint Justices, subject to Senate confirmation, to serve out the remainder of an unexpired term until the next general election. As of 2017, seven of the current Justices, a majority, were originally appointed by Governor Rick Perry. The current Justices, like all the Judges of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, are all Republican. The place numbers have no special meaning as all justices are elected statewide, except that the Chief Justice position is considered `` Place 1 ''. Women on the Court Hortense Sparks Ward, who became the first woman to pass the Texas Bar Exam in 1910, was appointed Special Chief Justice of an all - female Texas Supreme Court 15 years later. All of the court 's male justices recused themselves from Johnson v. Darr, a 1924 case involving the Woodmen of the World, and, since nearly every member of the Texas Bar was a member of that fraternal organization, paying personal insurance premiums that varied with the claims decided against it, no male judges or attorneys could be found to hear the case. After ten months of searching for suitable male replacements to decide the case, Governor Pat Neff decided on January 1, 1925, to appoint a special court composed of three women. This court, consisting of Ward, Hattie Leah Henenberg, and Ruth Virginia Brazzil, met for five months and ultimately ruled in favor of Woodmen of the World. On July 25, 1982, Ruby Kless Sondock became the court 's first regular female justice, when she was appointed to replace the Associate Justice James G. Denton who had died of a heart attack. Sondock served the remainder of Denton 's term, which ended on December 31, 1982, but did not seek election to the Supreme Court in her own right. Rose Spector became the first woman elected to the court in 1992 and served until 1998 when she was defeated by Harriet O'Neill. Current justices Justice Party Affiliation Place Date Service Began Term Ends Nathan Hecht Republican Chief Justice January 1, 1989 2020 Jimmy Blacklock Republican January 2, 2018 2018 Debra Lehrmann Republican June 21, 2010 2022 John P. Devine Republican January 1, 2013 2018 Paul W. Green Republican 5 January 1, 2005 2022 Jeff Brown Republican 6 October 3, 2013 2018 Jeffrey S. Boyd Republican 7 December 3, 2012 2020 Phil Johnson Republican 8 April 11, 2005 2020 Eva Guzman Republican 9 October 8, 2009 2022 History of membership of the Court Main article : History of membership of the Texas Supreme Court Succession of seats Chief Justice ( Place 1 ) Established by the Texas Constitution of 1876 G. Moore Democratic 1878 -- 1881 Gould Democratic 1881 -- 1882 Willie Democratic 1882 -- 1888 Stayton Democratic 1888 -- 1894 Gaines Democratic 1894 -- 1911 Brown Democratic 1911 -- 1915 N. Phillips Democratic 1915 -- 1921 Cureton Democratic 1921 -- 1940 W.F. Moore Democratic 1940 -- 1941 Alexander Democratic 1941 -- 1948 Hickman Democratic 1948 -- 1961 Calvert Democratic 1961 -- 1972 Greenhill Democratic 1972 -- 1982 Pope Democratic 1982 -- 1985 Hill Democratic 1985 -- 1988 Phillips Republican 1988 -- 2004 Jefferson Republican 2004 -- 2013 Hecht Republican 2013 -- present Place 2 Established by the Texas Constitution of 1876 Gould Democratic 1876 -- 1881 Stayton Democratic 1881 -- 1888 Walker Democratic 1888 -- 1889 Henry Democratic 1889 -- 1893 Brown Democratic 1893 -- 1911 Ramsey Democratic 1911 -- 1912 N. Phillips Democratic 1912 -- 1915 Yantis Democratic 1915 -- 1918 Greenwood Democratic 1918 -- 1934 Sharp Democratic 1934 -- 1952 Culver Democratic 1953 -- 1965 Pope Democratic 1964 -- 1982 T. Robertson Democratic 1982 -- 1988 Doggett Democratic 1989 -- 1994 Owen Republican 1995 -- 2005 Willett Republican 2005 -- 2018 Blacklock Republican 2018 -- present Place 3 Established by the Texas Constitution of 1876 G. Moore Democratic 1876 -- 1878 Bonner Democratic 1878 -- 1882 West Democratic 1882 -- 1885 S. Robertson Democratic 1885 -- 1886 Gaines Democratic 1886 -- 1894 Denman Democratic 1894 -- 1899 Williams Democratic 1899 -- 1911 Bibrell Democratic 1911 -- 1913 Hawkins Democratic 1913 -- 1921 Pierson Democratic 1921 -- 1935 Critz Democratic 1935 -- 1945 Simpson Democratic 1945 -- 1949 Harvey Democratic 1949 -- 1950 Calvert Democratic 1950 -- 1961 Steakley Democratic 1961 -- 1980 Wallace Democratic 1981 -- 1988 Cook Republican 1988 -- 1992 Spector Democratic 1993 -- 1998 O'Neill Republican 1999 -- 2010 Lehrmann Republican 2010 -- present Place 4 Established in 1918 as Commissioner, Section B Made a Supreme Court judgeship in 1945 Sadler Democratic 1918 -- 1920 Powell Democratic 1920 -- 1927 Leddy Democratic 1927 -- 1933 Smedley Democratic 1933 -- 1954 Walker Democratic 1954 -- 1975 Doughty Democratic 1975 -- 1976 Yarbrough Democratic 1976 -- 1977 Barrow Democratic 1977 -- 1984 R. Gonzales Democratic 1984 -- 1998 A. Gonzales Republican 1999 -- 2000 Jefferson Republican 2001 -- 2004 Medina Republican 2004 -- 2012 Devine Republican 2013 -- present Place 5 Established in 1918 as Commissioner, Section B Made a Supreme Court judgeship in 1945 Montgomery Democratic 1918 -- 1919 Kittrell Democratic 1919 -- 1921 Hamilton Democratic 1921 Short Democratic 1925 -- 1934 Taylor Democratic 1935 -- 1950 Wilson Democratic 1950 -- 1956 McCall Democratic 1956 Norvell Democratic 1957 -- 1968 Reavley Democratic 1968 -- 1977 Chadick Democratic 1977 -- 1978 Campbell Democratic 1978 -- 1988 Culver Republican Hightower Democratic 1988 -- 1996 Abbott Republican 1996 -- 2001 Rodriguez Republican 2001 -- 2002 Smith Republican 2002 -- 2004 Green Republican 2005 -- present Place 6 Established in 1918 as Commissioner, Section A Made a Supreme Court judgeship in 1945 Taylor Democratic 1919 -- 1921 Randolph Democratic 1921 -- 1923 Bishop Democratic 1923 -- 1927 Critz Democratic 1927 -- 1935 Hickman Democratic 1935 -- 1948 Garwood Democratic 1948 -- 1958 Hamilton Democratic 1959 -- 1970 Denton Democratic 1971 -- 1982 Sondock Democratic 1982 Kilgarlin Democratic 1983 -- 1988 Hecht Republican 1989 -- 2013 Brown Republican 2013 -- present Place 7 Established in 1918 as Commissioner, Section B Made a Supreme Court judgeship in 1945 McClendon Democratic 1918 -- 1923 Stayton Democratic 1923 -- 1925 Speer Democratic 1925 -- 1929 Ryan Democratic 1929 -- 1937 Martin Democratic 1937 -- 1939 Slatton Democratic 1939 -- 1947 Hart Democratic 1947 -- 1950 Smith Democratic 1950 -- 1970 Daniel Democratic 1971 -- 1978 Spears Democratic 1979 -- 1990 Cornyn Republican 1991 -- 1997 Hankinson Republican 1997 -- 2002 Wainwright Republican 2002 -- 2012 Boyd Republican 2012 -- present Place 8 Established in 1918 as Commissioner, Section A Made a Supreme Court judgeship in 1945 Sonfield Democratic 1918 -- 1921 Gallagher Democratic 1921 -- 1923 Blanks Democratic 1923 -- 1924 Chapman Democratic 1924 -- 1925 Nickels Democratic 1925 -- 1929 Sharp Democratic 1929 -- 1934 German Democratic 1935 -- 1941 Brewster Democratic 1941 -- 1957 Greenhill Democratic 1957 -- 1972 H. Phillips Democratic 1972 S. Johnson Democratic 1973 -- 1979 Garwood Republican 1978 -- 1980 Ray Democratic 1980 -- 1990 Gammage Democratic 1990 -- 1995 Baker Republican 1995 -- 2002 Schneider Republican 2002 -- 2004 P. Johnson Republican 2004 -- present Place 9 Established in 1918 as Commissioner, Section A Made a Supreme Court judgeship in 1945 Strong Democratic 1918 -- 1920 Spencer Democratic 1920 -- 1923 German Democratic 1923 -- 1925 Harvey Democratic 1925 -- 1943 Folley Democratic 1943 -- 1949 Griffin Democratic 1949 -- 1968 McGee Democratic 1969 -- 1986 Mauzy Democratic 1987 -- 1992 Enoch Republican 1993 -- 2003 Brister Republican 2003 -- 2009 Guzman Republican 2009 -- present Supreme Court committees Judicial Committee on Information Technology ( JCIT ) Created in 1997 JCIT was established to set standards and guidelines for the systematic implementation and integration of information technology into the trial and appellate courts in Texas. JCIT approaches this mission by providing a forum for state - local, inter-branch, and public - private collaboration, and development of policy recommendations for the Supreme Court of Texas. Court technology, and the information it carries, are sprawling topics, and Texas is a diverse state with decentralized funding and decision - making for trial court technology. JCIT provides a forum for discussion of court technology and information projects. With this forum, JCIT reaches out to external partners such as the Conference of Urban Counties, the County Information Resource Agency, Texas.gov, and TIJIS ( Texas Integrated Justice Information Systems ), and advises or is consulted by the Office of Court Administration on a variety of projects. Three themes consistently recur in the JCIT conversation : expansion and governance of electronic filing ; the evolution and proliferation of court case management systems ; and the evolution and governance of technology standards for reporting and sharing information across systems in civil, family, juvenile, and criminal justice. The Founding Chair of JCIT from 1997 -- 2009 was Peter S. Vogel, a partner at Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP in Dallas, and since 2009 the JCIT Chair has been Justice Rebecca Simmons. 2014 Texas Supreme Court judicial election Texas is one of seven states that elects Supreme Court justices on partisan ballots. Four justices of the Texas Supreme Court faced re-election in 2014. Three of the four sitting Supreme Court Justices, Chief Justice Nathan Hecht, Justice Jeff Brown and Justice Phil Johnson, were required to defeat challengers in a March primary before the general election in November. The candidates challenging the incumbent Supreme Court Justices, according to reports filed with the Texas Ethics Commission, were recruited for the election and funded by a Houston plaintiff lawyer and Ali Davari, owner of two strip clubs : Sexy City and Erotic Zone. Texas for Lawsuit Reform commented on the Texas election by saying, `` Plaintiff trial lawyers are making an unprecedented attempt to regain the control of the Supreme Court that they enjoyed in the 1970s and 1980s, when Texas was known as ' The Lawsuit Capitol of the World. ' '' Also, an airing of Sixty Minutes entitled Justice for Sale gave a devastating critique of the Texas Supreme Court. Houston plaintiff lawyer Mark Lanier, funded the bulk of the campaign to remove the Texas Supreme Court and business groups. Funding was disclosed in an article titled, `` Plaintiff Trial Lawyers Attempt to Distort Role of Judges and Juries. '' In the years preceding the Texas Judicial Election, Lanier had become a vocal critic of the Texas Supreme Court after the Supreme Court reversed his signature trial verdict against Merck & Co. on behalf of a widow whose husband died after taking Vioxx. After Lanier suffered a second high - profile loss of a Vioxx case, in which the Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston concluded in MERCK & CO., INC. v. Ernst, a wrongful death case by a widow, that Lanier failed to show that the ingestion of Vioxx caused the death of his client 's spouse. Lanier 's publicly criticized the Texas Supreme Court stating that it employs `` a simpleton approach that basically white washes the trial, ignores the evidence, and is very conclusion based. '' Lanier responded to the appellate setbacks in a press release : Activist judges are protecting corporate executives and stripping away the rights of widows and every other victim of corporate misconduct... This decision was handed down by a group of judges who regularly accept campaign contributions from law firms representing corporations that appear in their courts. We will appeal this decision to the United States Supreme Court if necessary. All judicial challengers recruited and funded by the Texas plaintiff lawyers lost to the incumbent Texas Supreme Court justices who won the 2014 Texas election. School funding decision In May 2016, in a 100 - page ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that public school financing, a long - term political issue in Texas, is imperfect but constitutional. Specifically, the court ruled that the funding `` satisfies minimum constitutional requirements. '' More than half of the school districts across the state had wanted the court to force the Texas State Legislature to guarantee equal tax revenues to wealthy and poorer districts alike. The court, which has only one Democrat member among the nine justices, said that legislators must tackle school funding and not expect the court to make specific policy decisions. Notes Jump up ^ `` Archived copy ''. Archived from the original on January 25, 2010. Retrieved January 13, 2010. Jump up ^ Tex. Gov 't Code section 81.011. Jump up ^ Tex. Gov 't Code sections 81.061 and 82.021 Jump up ^ Tex. Gov 't Code section 82.001 Jump up ^ Tex. Gov 't Code section 82.004. ^ Jump up to : Steiner, Mark E. ( February 1999 ). `` Not Fade Away : The Continuing Relevance of ' Writ Refused ' Opinions ''. The Appellate Advocate. 12 : 3 -- 6. Available via HeinOnline. Jump up ^ Tex. Const., Art. 5, Sec. 2. Jump up ^ MAULDIN, COTTRELL, DEBBIE ( June 9, 2010 ). `` ALL - WOMAN SUPREME COURT ''. www.tshaonline.org. Archived from the original on January 3, 2018. Retrieved May 4, 2018. Jump up ^ `` Hortense Sparks Ward ( 1875 -- 1944 ) ''. Justices of Texas 1836 -- 1986. Tarlton Law Library, The University of Texas at Austin. October 16, 2009. Archived from the original on July 7, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2013. Jump up ^ `` Ruby Kless Sondock ( born 1926 ) ''. Justices of Texas 1836 -- 1986. Tarlton Law Library, The University of Texas at Austin. October 16, 2009. Archived from the original on July 7, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2013. Jump up ^ Cruse, Don ( January 8, 2008 ). `` An Unusual History of Women Serving on the Texas Supreme Court ''. The Supreme Court of Texas Blog. Archived from the original on March 16, 2012. Retrieved July 16, 2013. Jump up ^ `` Texas Supreme Court Elections 2014 ''. Judgepedia. Archived from the original on October 28, 2014. Retrieved October 28, 2014. Jump up ^ Yates, David ( January 27, 2014 ). `` Lanier Law Firm funding challengers in Texas Supreme Court 's GOP primary ''. Legal Newsline Legal Journal. Archived from the original on March 6, 2015. Retrieved October 28, 2014. Jump up ^ `` Lawyer Cash, Racial Profiling Shape Supreme Court Races Plaintiff Lawyers, Strip - Club Mogul Fund GOP 's John Devine '' ( PDF ). Texans For Public Justice. Archived ( PDF ) from the original on October 28, 2014. Retrieved October 28, 2014. Jump up ^ Trabulsi Jr., Richard. `` Re-Election of Texas Supreme Court Justices in 2014 Is Critically Important ''. Texans for Lawsuit Reform : Political Action Committee. Archived from the original on October 28, 2014. Retrieved October 28, 2014. Jump up ^ `` Plaintiff Trial Lawyers Attempt to Distort Role of Judges and Juries ''. TLR : Texans for Lawsuit Reform. Archived from the original on October 18, 2014. Retrieved October 28, 2014. Jump up ^ Berenson, Alex ( May 30, 2008 ). `` Courts Reject Two Major Vioxx Verdicts ''. New York Times.com. New York Times. Archived from the original on May 4, 2018. Retrieved October 28, 2014. Jump up ^ `` Opinion of May, 29, 2008 Withdrawn ''. www.search.txcourts.gov. Archived from the original on March 28, 2018. Retrieved May 4, 2018. ^ Jump up to : Longstreth, Andrew ( May 29, 2008 ). `` Mark Lanier 's Faith Tested : He Loses Two Vioxx Appeals in One Day ''. The AM Law Daily. Archived from the original on October 29, 2014. Retrieved October 28, 2014. Jump up ^ Bachelder, Kate ( February 26, 2014 ). `` Stacking the Texas Supreme Court ''. Parker County Blog. The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on October 28, 2014. Retrieved October 28, 2014. Jump up ^ Andrea Zelinski and Mike Ward, `` School financing system left intact : Court says it 's awful but constitutional '', San Antonio Express - News, May 14, 2016, pp. 1, A7 Further reading Haley, James L. The Texas Supreme Court : A Narrative History, 1836 -- 1986 ( Austin : University of Texas Press, 2013. xxviii, 322 pp. External links Texas portal Law portal Official Website for the Texas Supreme Court Texas Supreme Court History : Links to Resources ( 1 ) The Texas Reports, the decisions of the Texas Supreme Court from 1846 to 1885, hosted by the Portal to Texas History `` Judiciary '' ( by Paul Womack ) from The Handbook of Texas Online ( Texas State Historical Association ) Texas Supreme Court Historical Society Coordinates : 30 ° 16 ′ 33 '' N 97 ° 44 ′ 28 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 30.275853 ° N 97.741054 ° W ﻿ / 30.275853 ; - 97.741054 Texas state agencies Executive Dept. of Agriculture Alcoholic Beverage Commission Animal Health Commission Dept. of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services Attorney General School for the Blind and Visually Impaired Brazos River Authority State Cemetery Comptroller of Public Accounts School for the Deaf Board of Dental Examiners Commission on Environmental Quality Education Agency Employees Retirement System Ethics Commission Facilities Commission Dept. of Family and Protective Services Film Commission Forest Service Office of the Governor Guadalupe - Blanco River Authority Health and Human Services Commission Dept. of State Health Services Higher Education Coordinating Board Historical Commission Dept. of Housing and Community Affairs Dept. of Information Resources Dept. of Insurance Commission on Jail Standards General Land Office Library and Archives Commission Dept. of Licensing and Regulation Lottery Commission Lower Colorado River Authority Dept. of Motor Vehicles Dept. of Parks and Wildlife Preservation Board Dept. of Public Safety Railroad Commission Real Estate Commission Residential Construction Commission Soil and Water Conservation Board Teacher Retirement System Texas A&M University System Dept. of Transportation Trinity River Authority University of Houston System University of North Texas System University of Texas System Texas State University System Texas Tech University System Workforce Commission Juvenile Justice Department Legislative House of Representatives Senate Judicial Courts of Appeals Court of Criminal Appeals Dept. of Criminal Justice State Bar Supreme Court Highest judicial bodies in the United States Federal court Supreme Court of the United States 1st Cir. 2nd Cir. 3rd Cir. 4th Cir. 5th Cir. 6th Cir. 7th Cir. 8th Cir. 9th Cir. 10th Cir. 11th Cir. DC Cir. Fed. Cir. Armed Forces State supreme courts Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma : ( Civil ) ( Criminal ) Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas : ( Civil ) ( Criminal ) Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Territorial supreme courts American Samoa District of Columbia Guam Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico United States Virgin Islands Obsolete Panama Canal Zone Philippine Islands Complete list Courts of the United States ( Federal and state, all levels ) Jump up ^ `` TJB - SC - About the Court - Court History ''. www.txcourts.gov. Archived from the original on April 3, 2018. Retrieved May 4, 2018. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Supreme_Court_of_Texas&oldid=839673153 '' Categories : State supreme courts of the United States Texas state courts 1840 establishments in the Republic of Texas Hidden categories : Use mdy dates from January 2018 Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2017 All articles containing potentially dated statements Coordinates on Wikidata Talk Contents About Wikipedia Español فارسی Italiano Edit links This page was last edited on 4 May 2018, at 23 : 10. About Wikipedia

Question: how are supreme court judges selected in texas
Answer: statewide partisan elections