Meet Judge Sarah T. Hughes
Running slightly late this week, sorry about that. But we have a great Texas lady to profile - Judge Sarah T. Hughes. She's best known as the person before whom President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in right after Kennedy was shot - that's her in the glasses in the famous picture taken aboard Air Force One. But really, that's the very least of her achievements.
Born in Maryland, Sarah attended Baltimore public schools and then graduated from Goucher College. She began her legal career working full-time as a police officer working primarily with juveniles, while attending George Washington University Law School at night. She was one of only two women in her law school class. In 1922 she married fellow lawyer George Hughes and they moved to Dallas, where he began a law practice and she began to run smack into the widespread discrimination against women in legal professions. She practiced law with her husband until she obtained a position with another firm. Not a great position, mind you - they didn't have a secretary, so they allowed her to use their outer office and threw a few cases her way. What a bunch of princes.
Hughes began to get more involved in politics, and in 1930 was elected to the first of three terms she spent as a state representative. In 1935 she became the first female district judge in Texas. In that position she fought for the rights of women to serve on juries and for juvenile justice reform. When she was appointed, one state senator publicly commented that, "She ought to be home washing dishes." She responded that the Senator probably would not hold his position "if his charming wife had been home washing dishes instead of campaigning for him." Sassy!
She was the first female federal judge in Texas and was a member of the three-judge panel which originally heard Roe v. Wade. She also presided over the major prosecution in the Sharpstown scandal and by all accounts handled the case remarkably well; the appellate court upheld her ruling on all grounds in a per curiam opinion. But the achievement she was most proud of was presiding over the case that made the Dallas County Jail a halfway decent place. It was a tough case legally (not much precedent to work from, lots of jurisdictional issues), but Judge Hughes showed her usual scrupulous care and high standards and resolved the issues very well. She oversaw the improvement process, requiring the commissioner's court to submit reports and making many personal visits to the jail. Improvements included: a new jail to be established to decrease overcrowding, a pre-trial release program, a night magistrate's program, and, most impressively, some very successful educational programs. Students from nearby SMU came to teach the prisoners. Another program helped inmates obtain their GEDs. When Judge Hughes came to the graduation ceremony of the programs first graduates, they gave her a standing ovation. Amen.
Her civic involvement was just as impressive. She was president of the Dallas chapter of Business and Professional Women, then president of the Texas chapter, and finally presidet of Business and Professional Women USA from 1950-1952. was a board member of the Council of World Affairs, Dallas United Nations Association, and St. Phillips Community Center. Judge Hughes was inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame in 1984, not long before her death in 1985.
For more info:
* the archive of her papers at UNT
* interview with Judge Hughes at the LBJ Library
* Darwin Payne's biography of her
Comments
What a great woman, and what a great series here on the blog. Thanks!
Posted by: Skye![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.nowtexas.org/nowblog/nav-commenters.gif)
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July 17, 2006 04:59 PM