Recent Events
June 4
2010 Annual John Hemphill Dinner, the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society's main fundraising event. Speaker: Chief Justice Thomas R. Phillips (ret.)
June 4
Judicial Portrait Dedication, Supreme Court of Texas and Texas Supreme Court Historical Society,dedicating the portrait of former Justice Greg Abbott and rededicating the portrait of Chief Justice Joe Greenhill (ret.).
June 5
Former Staff and Briefing Attorney Reunion Breakfast, University of Texas at Austin Alumni Center.
January 13
Anniversary Celebration, Texas Supreme Court and Texas Supreme Court Historical Society, 4 p.m. Supreme Court Courtroom.
January 28
Book reading and signing event, Mimi Clark Gronlund, author of Supreme Court Justice Tom C. Clark: A Life of Service, the first book in the Texas Legal History Series, sponsored by the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society and published by the University of Texas Press (see story below).
March 4
Joint Session, Texas Supreme Court Historical Society and Texas State Historical Association, "Peculiar Texas Slave Cases; What They Reveal about the Institution," TSHA Annual Meeting, Dallas, Texas.
NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Former Chief Justice Thomas R. Phillips Spoke at Hemphill Dinner
Judge Thomas R. Phillips, retired chief justice of the Supreme Court of Texas and partner with Baker Botts LLP in Austin, was the principal speaker at the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society’s Annual Hemphill Dinner on June 4. Judge Phillips’ talk traced the history and politics of judicial election.
Society president Larry McNeill presided over the evening program, which included an introduction of the newest member of the Texas Supreme Court, Justice Eva Guzman, by Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson. Chief JusticeJefferson also recognized the contributions of Justice Harriet O'Neill, who is leaving the Court on June 20, and introduced her replacement, Judge Debra Lehrmann.
The program also included a presentation of the second annual Chief Justice Jack Pope Professionalism Award to Judge Tom Reavley. Sponsored by the Texas Center for Legal Ethics , the award recognizes a Texas appellate lawyer or appellate judge who demonstrates the highest level of professionalism and integrity.
In conjunction with the dinner, a portrait dedication ceremony in honor of former Justice Greg Abbott and retired Chief Justice Joe R. Greenhill was held that afternoon. in the Supreme Court Courtroom.
More about the Hemphill Dinner and portrait dedication ceremony will be posted soon.
Past Hemphill Dinner Speakers
UT Press and TSCHS Establish New Book Series
The Texas Supreme Court Historical Society and the University of Texas Press have teamed up to sponsor a new Texas Legal Studies Series, and two books are already in production. The first volume in the series, released in November 2009, is a biography of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Tom C. Clark by his daughter, Mimi Clark Gronlund (see description below).
The second book in the series was produced under the auspices of the Society's History Book Project. Titled The Laws of Slavery in Texas, the book was released in late January by the University of Texas Press (see description below).
The Society has commissioned historian James L. Haley to write the third book in the series, a narrative history of the Texas Supreme Court. Haley is author of twelve books, including the award-winning Passionate Nation: The Epic History of Texas, and a highly acclaimed biography of Sam Houston.
The Texas Legal Studies Series is edited by William S. Pugsley, the Society's Executive Director, and Profressor Jason A. Gillmer of the Texas Weslyan University School of Law.
Texas Legal Studies Series, Volume 1
Supreme Court Justice Tom C. Clark: A Life of Service
By Mimi Clark Gronlund
An associate justice on the renowned Warren Court whose landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education overturned racial segregation in schools and other public facilities, Tom C. Clark was a crusader for justice throughout his long legal career. Among many tributes Clark received, Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger opined that "no man in the past thirty years has contributed more to the improvement of justice than Tom Clark."
Supreme Court Justice Tom C. Clark is the first biography of this important American jurist. Written by his daughter, Mimi Clark Gronlund, and based on interviews with many of Clark's judicial associates, friends, and family, as well as archival research, it offers a well-rounded portrait of a lawyer and judge who dealt with issues that remain in contention today—civil rights, the rights of the accused, school prayer, and censorship/pornography, among them. Gronlund explores the factors in her father's upbringing and education that helped form his judicial philosophy, then describes how that philosophy shaped his decisions on key issues and cases, including the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, the investigation of war fraud, the Truman administration's loyalty program (an anti-communist effort), the Brown decision, Mapp v. Ohio (protections against unreasonable search and seizure), and Abington v. Schempp (which overturned a state law that required reading from the Bible each day in public schools).
The book is available at bookstores and from the University of Texas Press.
Texas Legal Studies Series, Volume 2
The Laws of Slavery in Texas
Edited by Randolph B. Campbell
Compiled by William S. Pugsley and Marilyn P. Duncan
The laws that governed the institution of slavery in early Texas were enacted over a fifty-year period in which Texas moved through incarnations as a Spanish colony, a Mexican state, an independent republic, a part of the United States, and a Confederate state. This unusual legal heritage sets Texas apart from the other slave-holding states and provides a unique opportunity to examine how slave laws were enacted and upheld as political and legal structures changed. The Laws of Slavery in Texas makes that examination possible by combining seminal historical essays with excerpts from key legal documents from the slave period and tying them together with interpretative commentary by the foremost scholar on the subject, Randolph B. Campbell.
Campbell's commentary focuses on an aspect of slave law that was particularly evident in the evolving legal system of early Texas: the dilemma that arose when human beings were treated as property. As Campbell points out, defining slaves as moveable property, or chattel, presented a serious difficulty to those who wrote and interpreted the law because, unlike any other form of property, slaves were sentient beings. They were held responsible for their crimes, and in numerous ways statute and case law dealing with slavery recognized the humanness of the enslaved. Attempts to protect the property rights of slave owners led to increasingly restrictive laws--including laws concerning free blacks--that were difficult to uphold. The documents in this collection reveal both the roots of the dilemma and its inevitable outcome.
The book is available from the University of Texas Press.
Society Featured in Texas Bar Journal
The December 2009 issue of the Texas Bar Journal includes an article on the Society's anniversary by Executive Director Bill Pugsley. To read the story, visit the Journal online at State Bar of Texas | Table of Contents December 2009 .
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