Texas Supreme Court advisory
Contact: Osler McCarthy, staff attorney for public information
512.463.1441 or click for email
Friday, May 7, 2010
JUSTICE O’NEILL TO LEAVE COURT JUNE 20
Justice Harriet O’Neill,
who announced last year she would not seek re-election, today sent notice to
Texas Governor Rick Perry of her resignation as a Justice of the Supreme Court
of Texas effective June 20. O’Neill became the first woman elected to the Court
to preside as Chief Justice, when she was the senior justice on the bench
during oral argument. When she leaves, she will be the longest-serving woman
justice in the Court’s history.
“I am deeply grateful for the unique opportunity to have served the people of
this great state during my nearly 18-year tenure on the district court, the
court of appeals and the Supreme Court of Texas,” O’Neill said. “It has been an
honor to serve with men and women of the highest integrity. I hope that my
service has justified the confidence that the voters have placed in me.”
“To say Justice O’Neill will be missed on this Court would be an
understatement,” Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson said. “In addition to her
tremendous contribution to Texas law, her legacy will be a vastly improved
judicial process for abused and neglected children and a determined effort by
the Legislature and attorneys across the state to improve the delivery of legal
services to people who cannot afford lawyers.”
Justice O’Neill joined the Court in January 1999, having been elected the
previous November. She had been a justice on Houston’s 14th District Court of
Appeals and, before that, a Harris County district judge.
Explaining her decision to leave the court before her term expires in December,
O’Neill said: “After careful consideration, I timed my departure to cause the
least disruption to the Court’s docket.”
O’Neill spearheaded the Supreme Court’s creation of the Permanent Judicial
Commission for Children, Youth and Families, a coordinated effort to improve
court practice and enhance resources for children under court supervision. She
was also a founding member of the Texas Access to Justice Commission, which
seeks to improve the administration of justice by ensuring that people with
basic civil legal needs have access to the courts, regardless of income.
Justice O’Neill will announce her future plans after June 20.