Justice Ann Crawford McClure of the Texas Eighth Court of Appeals in El Paso has been appointed the court's chief justice by Gov. Rick Perry, making her the court's first woman chief justice.
McClure's appointment will be effective on Oct. 12. She succeeds Chief Justice David Wellington Chew, who announced his resignation effective Oct. 11 earlier this month.
The 58-year-old jurist will become the first woman chief justice in the court's 100-year history, and the 14th chief justice overall in the court. Attorney Chris Antcliff, former judge of the 168th District Court, has been appointed by Perry to replace her. Both Antcliff and McClure will seek election to their appointed benches.
On Monday, McClure said she was "thrilled and delighted" with the news of her appointment. She has been on the bench of the appellate court since 1995.
"During the last 20 years, we've seen tremendous diversity on the bench," McClure said during an interview in her office on the 12th floor of the El Paso County Courthouse. State Criminal Court of Appeals Judge “Morris Overstreet used to call us the ‘Rainbow Coalition.’ “
In the past 20 years, the El Paso appellate court has seen its first appointed Hispanic justice (Albert Armendariz Sr.), first Hispanic appointed and elected chief justice (Richard Barajas), and the first Hispanic woman justice (Guadalupe Rivera). Chew himself is half-Hispanic and half-Asian.
"Up until the early 1980s, the bench was limited to Anglo males," McClure said.
McClure said she's looking forward to working with the state's Council of Chief Justices to work on a new budget, which will be approved by state legislators during the next session. She wants to improve technology that will allow justices to cut back on travel time and expenses, and at the same time expand educational opportunities to law students in other cities such as San Antonio and Dallas, as well as El Paso, McClure said.
Expanded video conferencing capabilities will also allow members of the public to watch court hearings such as oral arguments, she said.
"Not many people in El Paso know we have two high courts in Texas, yet we stand for election," said McClure, a former president of the El Paso Bar Association. "We are an open court. We welcome public interest."
The Eighth Court of Appeals has jurisdiction over Texas' 17 westernmost counties, from El Paso to Ozona. The court serves in an "error correction" capacity, meaning that during the appeals process, the three justices on the bench in El Paso are responsible for looking at a trial to make sure it was fair, and that the rules of evidence and procedure were followed.
The court hears appeals from all civil and criminal cases, except cases where the death penalty has been recommended, McClure said.
"McClure started her law career in Houston, where she graduated from the University of Houston's Law Center. She worked for a private law firm, primarily in family law, during which time she met her husband David McClure, also an attorney.
The couple moved to El Paso in October 1983, or "as soon as I could" as McClure describes it. She is a past chair of the Appellate Section, Family Law Section, and the Appellate Division of the Judicial Section of the State Bar of Texas, and has served as president of the El Paso Bar Association and the Trans-Pecos Bar Association.
She is the chair of the Texas Center for the Judiciary Judicial Education Committee.
She has been given the Distinguished Alumnus Award by Texas Christian University, where she earned her bachelor's degree in communications, and the Civil Rights Award from the El Paso chapter of the NAACP.
She and her husband have two children, Kinsey, 33, and Scott, 25.
Of Chew, who will continue to serve as a judicial officer subject to assignment, McClure said she will "miss him terribly."
Chew is planning to move to South Texas, where he would pursue commercial real estate development with a former law partner, McClure said. Adrian M. Chavez, El Paso Judge is 1st Woman Chief Justice of Texas Eighth Court of Appeals, El Paso Times, Sept. 20, 2011, available at http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_18932780.
