Court History

January 5, 1985, to January 4, 1988

John L. Hill, Jr. was born in 1923 in Breckenridge, Texas. He graduated from the University of Texas School of Law in 1947, was admitted to the Texas Bar, and began practice as a trial lawyer in Houston. He served as Secretary of State and then Attorney General of Texas, and during his later tenure, he argued before the Supreme Court of the United States on five occasions.

In November 1984, he was elected Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas, succeeding Chief Justice Jack Pope, and became an advocate for reform of the judicial elective process upon his resignation in January 1988. He is the only person to have held all three of these positions in Texas. He received the University of Texas Distinguished Alumnus Award, was honored with UT Law School’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and served as the namesake of UT Law School’s Trial Advocacy Center.

Chief Justice Hill died on July 9, 2007 in Houston.