First Court of Appeals of Texas

The First Court of Appeals of Texas, one of the Texas Courts of Appeals, sits in Houston, Texas.

It currently presides over appeals from Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Grimes, Harris, Waller, and Washington counties. It shares concurrent jurisdiction with the Fourteenth Court of Appeals of Texas over the same geographic region; cases filed in any of the counties are randomly assigned between the 1st and 14th Courts but may be moved to equalize the dockets of both Courts.

The Court consists of a Chief Justice and eight justices. Chapter 22 of the Texas Government Code provides the appropriate legislation creating and describing the First Court of Appeals.

History

Phase 1: Galveston

The Texas Constitution of 1876 provided that the Texas Judiciary should consist solely of trial courts, the Supreme Court (for civil appeals), and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (for criminal appeals). In 1891, the Texas Constitution was amended to allow for three courts of civil appeals. The following year, the Texas Legislature located the first court in Galveston, the second in Fort Worth, and the third in Austin. The Court opened for business on October 3, 1892, in a courthouse said to be haunted by a prisoner once hanged there. Christopher Columbus Garrett was the Court's first chief justice, serving alongside Frank A. Williams and H. Clay Pleasants.

Phase 2: Houston

The second phase in the history of the court began in the summer of 1957. On August 21, 1957, after Hurricane Audrey wreaked havoc on Galveston Island, the Court moved to Houston, where it is still located. In 1977, the Texas Legislature amended the Constitution to allow for additional justices at each court of appeals and to allow those justices to hear cases in three-justice panels. On December 1, 1978, three new justices (a total of six) began work at the First Court of Appeals. In 1980, the Texas Legislature again amended the Constitution to expand the jurisdiction of the courts of appeals to include criminal matters. The next year (1981), the Texas Legislature added three more justices to the Court, for a total of nine.

The "First" Court of Appeals

Throughout its history, the First Court has been the "First" in Texas in many areas. The Court has the honor of having the first African–American appellate judge (Hon. Henry E. Doyle), the first elected female appellate judge (Hon. D. Camille Hudson–Dunn); the first female chief justice (Hon. Alice Oliver–Parrott); the first female African–American appellate judge (Hon. Gaynelle Griffin Jones), the first African–American appellate clerk (Hon. Margie Thompson), and the first all–female panel of regularly sitting judges (Hon. Alice Oliver–Parrott, Hon. Margaret Garner Mirabal, and Hon. Michol O'Connor).

Trivia

According to the [http://www.1stcoa.courts.state.tx.us/About/court_history.asp official website] , justices of the First Court of Appeals did not begin wearing robes while on the bench until 1963.

Current Justices

* Sherry Radack (Chief Justice, place 1)

* Jane Bland (place 2)

* Sam Nuchia (place 3)

* Evelyn Keyes (place 4)

* Laura Carter Higley (place 5)

* George C. Hanks, Jr. (place 6)

* Terry Jennings (place 7)

* Tim Taft (place 8)

* Elsa Alcala (place 9)