Jimmy Blacklock | |
---|---|
Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas | |
Assumed office January 2, 2018 | |
Appointed by | Greg Abbott |
Preceded by | Don Willett |
Personal details | |
Born | Missouri City,Texas,U.S. | August 28,1980
Political party | Republican |
Education | University of Texas,Austin (BA) Yale University (JD) |
Jimmy Blacklock (born August 28,1980) [1] is an American attorney and judge currently serving as a justice of the Texas Supreme Court.
Blacklock was born in Missouri City,Texas,[ clarification needed ] where he attended public school throughout his primary education. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. [2] He then went to Yale Law School and clerked for Judge Jerry Edwin Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
After clerking for Judge Smith,Blacklock was appointed to the Civil Rights Division within the United States Department of Justice by President George W. Bush. [3] Before his tenure as a judge,Blacklock served as General Counsel to then Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and continued to serve Governor Abbott as general counsel until his appointment to the Texas Supreme Court on January 2,2018. [4] [5]
Blacklock was up for election for the first time on November 6,2018. [6] He defeated Democratic challenger Steven Kirkland,a district court judge in Harris County (Houston),with 53.16% of the statewide votes. The statewide turnout in this race was 51.74%. [7]
In August 2021,Blacklock,writing for the Texas Supreme Court,ruled that the Texas Constitution "authorize[s] each [legislative] chamber to compel the attendance of absent members,by physical compulsion if necessary." [8] The ruling was in response to Texas House Democrats fleeing the state to deny the chamber the quorum needed to vote on a controversial election bill. [9]
In February 2022,Governor Abbott ordered the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to investigate child abuse claims filed against parents who might be providing their transgender children with gender-transition procedures. [10] After the ensuing legal battle,Blacklock wrote for a unanimous Court to strike down a state-wide injunction issued by a lower court judge blocking investigation into parents of transgender youths,but he also ruled that the governor did not have the authority to order such investigations. [11] [12] However,Blacklock and two other justices dissented from the Court's decision to block investigation into Doe's family,who had initiated the lawsuit against Abbott. [13]
Blacklock lives in Austin with his wife and their three daughters,where they are members of Tarrytown Christian Church. [14]
Steven Wayne Smith is a Republican former Texas Supreme Court justice,who was defeated for renomination in 2004 through the active opposition of then-Governor Rick Perry. He was unseated by Paul W. Green. Smith again lost –very narrowly –a bid for nomination to the court in the March 7,2006,GOP primary,when Perry again opposed his candidacy.
Gregory Wayne Abbott is an American politician,attorney,and jurist serving as the 48th governor of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party,he served as the 50th attorney general of Texas from 2002 to 2015 and as a justice of the Texas Supreme Court from 1996 to 2001.
David Michael Medina is a former Justice of the nine-member Texas Supreme Court. He served in the Place 4 position. He was appointed by Governor Rick Perry in 2004 and subsequently elected to a full-term in 2006. Medina was defeated in the Republican runoff election in 2012 by John P. Devine. His tenure ended on December 31,2012. All members of the court are Republican.
The Supreme Court of Texas is the court of last resort for civil matters in the U.S. state of Texas. A different court,the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals,is the court of last resort in criminal matters.
Donny Ray Willett is an American lawyer and jurist serving since 2018 as a U.S. circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He was previously a justice of the Supreme Court of Texas from 2005 to 2018.
Jerry Edwin Smith is an American attorney and jurist serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) is responsible for investigating charges of abuse,neglect or exploitation of children,the elderly,and adults with disabilities. Prior to its creation in 2004,the agency had been called the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (DPRS).
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender,and queer (LGBTQ) people in Texas have some protections in state law but may face legal and social challenges not faced by others. Same-sex sexual activity was decriminalized in Texas in 2003 by the Lawrence v. Texas ruling. On June 26,2015,the Supreme Court of the United States ruled bans on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional in Obergefell v. Hodges.
The state of Texas,located in the south in the United States,contains a large community of LGBTQ+ citizens. More specifically,the city Austin,Texas has the third largest population of LGBTQ+ people based on the size of the city. Austin,Texas,and Texas in general,is home to several icons of the LGBTQ+ community such as Karamo Brown,co-founder of the LGBTQ+ group "Queer Eye" and Demi Lovato,a queer artist and activist. There is history of heavy violence against the LGBTQ+ community within Texas such as riots,as well as liberation and parades celebrating those within the community.
Jeffrey Scott Boyd is an American lawyer who has served as a justice of the Texas Supreme Court. He was appointed to Place 7 on the court by Governor Rick Perry in the fall of 2012 to fill the seat vacated by Justice Dale Wainwright,and he won a full six-year term on the court in the 2014 election.
The 2018 general election was held in the U.S. state of Texas on November 6,2018. All of Texas's executive officers were up for election as well as a United States Senate seat,and all of Texas's thirty-six seats in the United States House of Representatives. The Republican and Democratic Parties nominated their candidates by primaries held March 6,2018. Convention Parties nominated their candidates at a series of conventions. County Conventions held March 17,2018,District Conventions held March 24,2018,and a State Convention held April 14,2018. At the present time there is only one Convention Party in Texas,that is the Libertarian Party. Other parties may seek to achieve ballot access.
James Chiun-Yue Ho is a Taiwanese-born American lawyer and jurist serving since 2018 as a U.S. circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He was appointed by President Donald Trump. Ho formerly served as Solicitor General of Texas from 2008 to 2010. He has been identified as a potential Supreme Court nominee should Donald Trump be reelected in 2024.
Andrew Stephen Oldham is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and former General Counsel to Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
The Solicitor General of Texas is the top appellate solicitor or lawyer for the U.S. state of Texas. It is an appointed position in the Office of the Texas Attorney General that focuses on the office's major appellate cases. The majority of the cases handled by the solicitor are argued in the United States Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of Texas. However some cases within the solicitor's responsibilities are under the jurisdiction of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the state appellate courts. The solicitor represents the Attorney General of Texas before the Supreme Court of Texas and other appellate courts,as needed. The Office of the Solicitor General writes most of the amicus briefs filed by the Texas attorney general's office.
Justin Brett Busby is a current Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas and a former justice of the 14th Court of Appeals of Texas whose six-year term ended December 31,2018. Along with many other Republican incumbents on the State's largest intermediate appellate courts,Busby was narrowly defeated in the November 2018 Democratic sweep.
Jane Nenninger Bland is an American lawyer from Texas who serves as a justice of the Supreme Court of Texas.
The 2022 Texas elections were held on November 8,2022. Primary elections were held on March 1,with runoffs held on May 24 for primary candidates who did not receive a majority of the vote.
Amber Briggle is an American activist based in Denton,Texas and a founding member of the Human Rights Campaign Parents for Transgender Equality National Council.
Christian Dashaun Menefee is an American attorney and politician who currently serves as County Attorney for Harris County,Texas. Elected in 2020,Menefee is the youngest person and first African-American to serve as chief civil lawyer for the largest county in Texas.
Beginning in 2018,Texas parents Jeff Younger and Anne Georgulas fought over custody of their twin children. The case attracted national attention,as one of their children was diagnosed with gender dysphoria at age five and presents as a transgender girl,which Georgulas affirms but Younger denies.