TEXAS SUPREME COURT HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Excerpts fromRough Road to Justice: The Journey of Women Lawyers in TexasBy Betty Trapp ChapmanEd. Note: In Rough Road to Justice: The Journey of Women Lawyers in Texas(Austin: TexasBarBooks, 2008), historian Betty Trapp Chapman chronicles atwentieth century story of how women came to join the Texas judiciary. In theexcerpts below, reprinted verbatim with original source citations, Ms. Chapmantells how Texas women ascended to the bench. The excerpts are used withpermission of the State Bar of Texas.Chapter Seven: Ascending to the BenchIN FEBRUARY 1935, SARAH T. HUGHES was appointedjudge of the fourteenth district court in Dallas County by GovernorWilliam Allred, who described Hughes as “capable, conscientious andcourageous.” 1 Since no woman had ever served in a permanent position inthe state judiciary, the appointment generated a great deal of attention andno small amount of controversy. Hughes’ own state senator complained,“Mrs. Hughes is a married woman and should be at home washing dishes.” 2 Women throughout the statewere insulted by the senator’s remark and responded by mobilizing with great enthusiasm on Hughes’behalf. Her appointment was confirmed after fiery debate in the Senate chambers. 3 Judge Hughes wouldbe reelected to the post for the next twenty-six years. During that time, however, she would have fewfemale colleagues join her on the bench.Women judges actually had a very auspicious beginning in Texas. In 1925 a potential conflict of interestarose that not only disqualified the three sitting justices on the court, but possibly eliminated every male member ofthe bar from serving as replacements. At issue was a trust and title dispute involving two tracts of land in El PasoCounty and the Woodmen of the World, a fraternal organization that sold insurance to men who then automaticallybecame members of a Woodmen lodge. 4 Nearly every male lawyer in the state in 1925 was a member. 5At the trial-court level, plaintiff J. M. Darr and those who joined him, acting as trustees for the Woodmenof the World, were partially successful, having been given title to only one tract of land. On immediate appeal,however, judgment was reversed, granting the plaintiffs title to both tracts of land. When the case came to the1Darwin Payne, Indomitable Sarah: The Life of Sarah T. Hughes (Dallas: Southern Methodist Univ. Press, 2004), 78.2Ibid.3Ibid., 84.4James R. Evans Jr., “An Exceptional Legacy,” Heritage (Spring 1998), 13-14.5Scholarship conducted in recent years has presented evidence that may indicate this was not the primary reason for choosing an allwomancourt. Some of the findings suggest that Governor Neff may have been trying to place women in prominent roles to downplaythe attention that Miriam “Ma” Ferguson was receiving. Ferguson, who would succeed Neff in just a few months, and her husband,Jim “Pa” Ferguson, were no allies of Neff.77