J. Dale Wainwright (born June 19, 1961 in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee) is a former associate justice of 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 ...

, now in private practice with Greenberg Traurig, LLP in Austin, Texas. Wainwright was initially elected to a six-year term, in November 2002, to replace

Deborah Hankinson Deborah G. Hankinson (born February 3, 1953) is an American attorney who served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Texas from 1997 to 2002. Early life and career She was born on February 3, 1953. Hankinson earned a special education degree fr ...

. In 2008, he was re-elected to a second term that would have ended in December 2014. On September 30, 2012, Wainwright officially resigned from the

after nearly a decade of service. He subsequently joined the

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

office of the law firm Bracewell and Giuliani. His successor on the court, effective December 3, 2012, was

Jeffrey S. Boyd Jeffrey Scott Boyd (born 1961) is an American lawyer, serving as a justice of the Texas Supreme Court since 2012. He was appointed to Place 7 on the court by Governor Rick Perry in the fall of 2012 to fill the seat vacated by Justice Dale Wainwrig ...

, a former chief of staff of then

Texas Governor The governor of Texas is the head of state of the U.S. state of Texas. The governor is the head of the executive branch of the government of Texas and is the commander-in-chief of the Texas Military Forces. Established in the Constitut ...

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 ...

. Boyd was appointed by Perry to serve for the remainder of Wainwright's term.

Early education and career

Wainwright graduated

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

with a major in economics from

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

, studied at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

as a Luard Scholar during his junior year, and received his J.D. from the

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the Law school in the United States, law school of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It employs more than 180 full-time and part-time facul ...

in 1988. In 1999 Wainwright was appointed by then Texas Governor

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

to the 334th District Court in Harris County, where he served until his election to the supreme court.

Elections

2002 election

Wainwright and Wallace B. Jefferson were the first

African Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...

to be elected to the Texas Supreme Court. Jefferson was initially appointed by Perry in 2001, and won his seat in 2002, in the same election in which Wainwright was elected to an open seat on the court. Like all justices on the state supreme court, Wainwright was a Republican.Supreme Court Profile: Dale Wainwright, Texas Bar Journal
Retrieved May 17, 2009

2008 election

In 2008, Wainwright sought his first reelection to the court. His main opponent was Democratic lawyer Sam Houston. Wainwright was reelected to a new six-year term with 51 percent of the vote to Houston's 45 percent. Libertarian candidate David G. Smith received 3 percent.

Personal life

Wainwright and his wife, Debbie, have three sons, Jeremy, Phillip, and Joshua Wainwright.

References

External links

2008 Campaign Site

Profile of Justice Wainwright at the Texas Supreme Court website"New Texas Supreme Court Justice began aspirations in Mt. Juliet," ''The Tennessean,'' May 29, 2003.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wainwright, Dale 1961 births Living people People from Mount Juliet, Tennessee African-American judges Howard University alumni Lawyers from Austin, Texas Lawyers from Houston Texas Republicans Texas state court judges Justices of the Supreme Court of Texas University of Chicago Law School alumni 21st-century American judges 21st-century American lawyers 20th-century African-American lawyers 21st-century African-American lawyers