Anybody have free archive access to the online Houston Chronicle?

Barter?


Mango

 

You owe me.

<i>First black appointed to state Supreme Court

By CLAY ROBISON, Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
Staff

AUSTIN - Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday named an appellate law specialist from San Antonio - the descendant of a slave - as the first black person to the Texas Supreme Court.

Perry said that his appointment of Wallace Bernard Jefferson to the state's highest civil court signals to young people that opportunity awaits highly qualified individuals "regardless of the color of your skin or the sound of your last name."

Jefferson , 37, will succeed Al Gonzales, who resigned from the court Dec. 22 to become President Bush's White House counsel. The appointment must be confirmed by the Texas Senate.

Perry said that Jefferson , most of whose work has been in civil defense law, will be a "fair, balanced and conservative judge who will strictly interpret our laws and Constitution in the best interest of Texas."

The governor said his appointee has a "brilliant legal mind."

Jefferson , who plans to seek election to the court next year, is a Republican, the same party affiliation as the other eight members of the court.

Jefferson said the governor's office didn't ask his views on abortion or other specific issues, but he said it would be correct to call him a "strict constructionist."

"It is not a judge's role to make law but to interpret it," he said. "If that's the way you use that term, then that's what I am."

Jefferson is the great-great-great-grandson of Shedrick Willis, who was a member of the Waco City Council during the Reconstruction era and, before the Civil War, a slave owned by a judge named N.W. Battle.

Willis died in 1903 at the age of 86.

"Shedrick Willis had been a slave, property to be bought, sold, auctioned on the courthouse steps," Perry said.

"Now, more than 100 years later, his great-great-great-grandson will proudly walk up the courthouse steps into the highest court in our state, an equal among nine peers. Truly, Shedrick Willis would be proud."

Jefferson 's appointment was applauded by civil justice reformers, who have succeeded in recent years in electing Supreme Court justices who more often than not side with business and insurance defendants against consumer plaintiffs.

"Mr. Jefferson is a legal scholar and long-time appellate practitioner who will reflect great credit on an already distinguished court," said Richard Weekley, president of Texans for Lawsuit Reform, whose members are major financial contributors to conservative Supreme Court justices.

Consumer advocates and so-called court watchdog groups, meanwhile, reacted more cautiously.

Dan Lambe, executive director of Texas Watch, a consumer advocacy group, said he expected the new justice to "take a reasonable and thoughtful look at all issues, considering equally the interests of Texas consumers and those of insurance, medical and other corporate interests."

"Far too often in recent years, this Texas Supreme Court has voted in favor of big business at the expense of average Texas families and consumers," he added.

Jefferson was appointed to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, a state agency that disciplines errant judges, by the State Bar of Texas in 1999.

He is a 1985 graduate of Michigan State University and a 1988 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law. He is a partner in Crofts, Callaway & Jefferson , a law firm he helped establish in 1991 to specialize in appellate work.

Before starting his own firm, Jefferson worked for the San Antonio law firm of Groce, Locke & Hebdon, where most of his experience involved defending insurance companies.

He is a former president of the San Antonio Bar Association and has successfully argued two cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Jefferson said that his family history "can't help but have shaped me in my life."

He said that the contrast between his ancestor's life as a slave and the opportunities offered by his own appointment to the Texas Supreme Court is "tremendous to me."

State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, one of two blacks in the Texas Senate, praised the appointment. He noted that Jefferson , once confirmed, will join Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Michael Williams as the only blacks holding statewide office in Texas.

Perry said that a number of "highly qualified" men and women were interviewed for the high court appointment.

"We were looking for the most qualified individual we could find in the state of Texas," he said.</i>

 

Jeff,


You've got mail.



Mango

 

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