Page 177 - The First Fifty Years

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ENDURINGLY GREAT 171

Houston, only to find out that lawyers don’t want to hire . . . a
secretary who has been to law school.”82 Graduating, however,
as valedictorian of the Class of 1962, she decided to step up
and meet her fate.

Here is the story, condensed for present purposes but
available in the full transcript of the oral history, of Ruby
Sondock’s appointment to the Texas Supreme Court:

JUSTICE BROWN [Justice Jeff Brown of the
Texas Supreme Court, UHLC 1995, HLR Board 32,
moderator of the Judges Oral History, and formerly a
member of the 14th Court of Appeals in Houston]:
Governor Clements is who put you on the Supreme
Court. . . .

JUDGE SONDOCK: It was 3 o’clock in the
afternoon, and I took my afternoon break . . . from the
[family court] jury.

Someone called [from Austin] and said one of the
jurists, Justice Denton, has died. . . . They said, “The
Governor wants to appoint a replacement.” . . .

I said, “Okay, who is it?” And they said, “You.”
I said, “Come on.” She said, “No. I’m serious.”
And I said, “Well, I’ll call you back. . . . I have to
talk it over [with my husband] tonight.”
She says, “No. I’ve got to give him an answer.”
I said, “Well let me call my husband and I’ll call
you back.”
So I called my husband and I said, “It appears
that there’s a vacancy on the Supreme Court, and it
appears that they’re considering me. What should I”—
And he says, “We’ll talk about it tonight.”
I said, “No. I’ve already [tried] that deal and they
said no; that I’ve got to give them a yes or no now.”
He says, “I tell you what, tell them yes and we’ll
talk about it tonight.” . . .
So, I called her back and said, “Yes. We’ll talk
about it tonight.”
She says, “Well I’m telling [the governor] yes.”
So when we [got home] at the end of our work
day, . . .[t]he phone was literally ringing when we
walked in the door. And it was this young [aide to the
Governor, who] wanted me to come up the next
morning. . . .
So . . . the next morning we went up [to Austin]. And I
was pressured pretty hard to say that I would [accept the