Robert Alton "Bob" Gammage (March 13, 1938 – September 10, 2012) was an American

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

, having served as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

in the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...

, the

Texas State Senate The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature, with the Texas House of Representatives functioning as the lower house. Together, they form the state legislature of the state of Texas. The Senate is made up of 31 members, where eac ...

, and the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

Education and military service

Gammage was born in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

and attended Milby High School there. He earned an associate of arts from Del Mar College in 1958 and a bachelor of science from the University of Corpus Christi in 1963, both in Corpus Christi. He obtained a master's degree from

Sam Houston State University Sam Houston State University (Sam Houston, SHSU or Sam) is a public research university in Huntsville, Texas, United States. Founded in 1879, it is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas. It is one of the first normal schools wes ...

in 1965 and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

in 1969. He also earned an LLM from the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 as part of his "academical village", and now ...

in 1986. Gammage served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

from 1959 to 1960 and the Army Reserve from 1960 to 1964. While in the army, he was stationed at

Fort Benning Fort Benning (named Fort Moore from 2023–2025) is a United States Army post in the Columbus, Georgia area. Located on Georgia's border with Alabama, Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve compone ...

, Georgia and in Seoul, Korea. He then served in the Navy Reserve from 1965 to 2000, where he retired as a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Career

Throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, Gammage was employed on the faculty the University of Corpus Christi,

San Jacinto College San Jacinto College () is a public community college in the Greater Houston area, with its campuses in Pasadena and Houston, Texas. Established in 1961, San Jacinto College originally consisted of the independent school districts (ISD) of Chan ...

, and the

South Texas College of Law South Texas College of Law Houston (STCL or South Texas) is a private law school in Houston, Texas. It was founded in 1923 when the YMCA made the decision to establish a law school with a focus on offering night classes for working professi ...

. In the late 1990s and early 2000s (decade), he taught at Sam Houston State University, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (formerly the University of Corpus Christi),

Texas State University Texas State University (TXST) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in San Marcos, Texas, United States, and another campus in Round Rock, Texas, Round Rock. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has ...

in San Marcos, and

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

-affiliated St. Edwards University in Austin. Gammage served in the

from 1971 to 1973. Gammage was a member of the so-called "Dirty 30," a

bipartisan Bipartisanship, sometimes referred to as nonpartisanship, is a political situation, usually in the context of a two-party system (especially those of the United States and some other western countries), in which opposing Political party, politica ...

group of legislators that pushed for reform in the 1970s in the wake of the Sharpstown scandal in which then state House Speaker Gus Mutscher of Brenham in Washington County was convicted and sentenced to five years probation for conspiring to accept a bribe. As a legislator he advocated government reform, consumer and health legislation, voting rights for eighteen-year -olds, and equal rights for women. Gammage was a member of the

from 1973 to 1976, when he was elected to the 95th Congress, having unseated freshman Republican

Ron Paul Ronald Ernest Paul (born August 20, 1935) is an American author, activist, and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1976 to 1977, and again from 1979 to 1985, as well as for Texas' ...

. After one term in Congress, he lost his seat to Paul in 1978. From 1979 to 1980, Gammage was assistant state attorney general under

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

Mark Wells White. In 1980, he was a special consultant to the

U.S. Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear we ...

under

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

, the last Democrat to win Texas in the

Electoral College An electoral college is a body whose task is to elect a candidate to a particular office. It is mostly used in the political context for a constitutional body that appoints the head of state or government, and sometimes the upper parliament ...

. In 1982, Gammage was elected as
justice
to the Texas Third Court of Appeals in Austin and served in that position until 1991. He was elected in 1990 to the

Texas Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX) is the court of last resort for civil matters (including juvenile delinquency cases, which are categorized as civil under the Texas Family Code) in the U.S. state of Texas. A different court, the Texas Court o ...

, on which he served from 1991 until 1995. During his time on the bench Gammage participated in nearly 250 cases. He embraced an expansive interpretation of the legal doctrines and constitutional provisions that protect individual rights and equality.
Gammage garnered national attention when he resigned from the Texas Supreme Court in 1995 to draw attention to the increasing amount of influence that campaign contributors and political action committees (PACs) had on judicial elections. Working with other proponents of judicial reform, including former Texas State Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas R. Phillips, Gammage was a key actor in bringing about caps on campaign contributions in judicial elections. In 2006, Gammage lost the Texas governor of Texas, gubernatorial Democratic

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

to former U.S. Representative Chris Bell of Houston. Bell was then defeated by incumbent Republican

Rick Perry James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 in the first administration of Donald Trump. He previously served as the 47th governor of Texas fr ...

. On May 27, 2008, Gammage delivered the funeral

eulogy A eulogy (from , ''eulogia'', Classical Greek, ''eu'' for "well" or "true", ''logia'' for "words" or "text", together for "praise") is a speech or writing in praise of a person, especially one who recently died or retired, or as a term o ...

for his former "Dirty Thirty" colleague

Joseph Hugh Allen Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

, a former representative from Baytown. In 2008, Gammage worked in the unsuccessful campaign to nominate

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

for U.S. president, having traveled to Iowa to meet with voters. According to his wife, Lynda Gammage, he spent his last years often performing pro bono legal work for the needy. Gammage died at the age of 74 in his Llano home of an apparent

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

on September 10, 2012.

Texas House Bills and House Joint Resolutions written by Gammage

*HB 249, Relating to the regulation of practice used in the collection of debts, *HB 250, Relating to the awarding of attorney's fees in any civil action in which the court finds that equity would be served by the award, *HB 251, Removing insurance companies from coverage exemption, *HB 307, Relating to the definition of deceptive trade practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce, *HB 592 Providing for the compensation to the county attorneys in certain counties, *HB 711, Creating two family district courts for Harris County, *HB 921, Relating to an accused's right to an examining trial before an indictment, *HB 1356, Relating to the casting of contempt upon flags of the United States, *HB 1357, Relating to the jurisdiction of the municipal courts of Texas and to the punishment for certain misdemeanor offenses, *HB 1359, Relating to the abolition of the Parks and Wildlife Department and the transfer of the powers, duties, and functions to tow newly established agencies, *HB 1660, Relating to the creation and jurisdiction of municipal courts in certain cities and the election of municipal judges, *HB 1661, Creating the La Porte Utility District, *HB 1743, Creating Sagemeadow Utility District, *HB 1801, Relating to the registration and filing of financial statements by persons engaged in representations before the Legislature and state agencies, *HB 1843, Relating to the pay of election judges and clerks, *HB 1857, Relating to the assignment of certain retired district judges to sit in certain courts, *HJR 76, Reducing the minimum service requirement for eligibility under the teacher retirement system from ten years to five years.

Notable court opinions

*''Colquette v. Forbes'' (1984) *''Kirby v. Edgewood Independent School District'' (1988) *''Edgewood Independent School District v. Kirby'' (1989) *''Valenzuela v. Aquino'' (1993) *''State v. Morales'' (1994) *''Barber v. Colorado Independent School District'' (1995) *''Star-Telegram, Inc. v. Doe'' (1995) *''Rodgers v. Bradley'' (1995)

References

External links

Texas State Political Science FacultySam Houston State University Political Science FacultyRobert A. Gammage Judicial Record

Robert A. Gammage Collection at Sam Houston State University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gammage, Robert 1938 births 2012 deaths 20th-century Texas state court judges Democratic Party members of the Texas House of Representatives Texas State University faculty Democratic Party Texas state senators Sam Houston State University faculty Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi faculty St. Edward's University faculty Sam Houston State University alumni University of Texas School of Law alumni University of Virginia School of Law alumni Del Mar College alumni Military personnel from Houston Justices of the Supreme Court of Texas United States Navy captains United States Army soldiers Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas 20th-century members of the Texas Legislature 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives