Jane Nenninger Bland (born June 1, 1965) is an American lawyer from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Texas.

Education

She received her

Bachelor of Business Administration Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanced ...

and Juris Doctor from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

. While in law school she was Vice-Chancellor, an editor of the

Texas Law Review The ''Texas Law Review'' is a student-edited and -produced law review affiliated with the University of Texas School of Law (Austin). It ranks number 6 on Washington & Lee University's list, number 11 on Google Scholar's list of top publications i ...

and a member of the

Order of the Coif The Order of the Coif is an honor society for United States law school graduates. The name is a reference to the ancient English order of advocates, the serjeants-at-law, whose courtroom attire included a coif—a white lawn or silk skullcap, whi ...

Legal career

From 1990 to 1991, she clerked for Judge Thomas Gibbs Gee of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * Eastern District of Louisiana * M ...

. She then went on to practice law with

Baker Botts Baker Botts L.L.P. is an American law firm of around 725 lawyers. Headquartered in One Shell Plaza in Downtown Houston, Texas, the firm has energy and technology related clients. It is referred to as the second-oldest law firm west of the Mi ...

from 1991 to 1997, focusing on civil trial and appellate work.

State judicial service

Bland served as the judge of the 281st Judicial District Court in the civil trial division of

Harris County, Texas Harris County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas; as of the 2020 census, the population was 4,731,145, making it the most populous county in Texas and the third most populous county in the United States. Its county seat is Houston, ...

, having initially been appointed by then–Governor

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

in 1997. In 2003, she was appointed to the First Court of Appeals by then-Governor Rick Perry. Bland sat as an appellate justice for 15 years, winning elections in 2004 (to complete the unexpired term), 2006, and 2012. Along with many other Republican incumbents on the court (located in heavily Democratic Harris County), she lost her re-election bid in 2018, and returned to private practice.

Texas Supreme Court service

On August 26, 2019, Governor

Greg Abbott Gregory Wayne Abbott (born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and former jurist serving as the 48th governor of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 50th attorney general of Texas from 2002 ...

announced his intention to appoint Bland to the Supreme Court of Texas to replace Justice Jeff Brown, who had been confirmed by the United States Senate as a District Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. She assumed office on September 4, 2019, when Brown was commissioned as a federal district judge. She was sworn in on September 11, 2019. In 2020 Bland stood for re-election to a full six-year term, defeating Democrat Kathy Cheng in a record-setting performance: the 6,015,699 votes cast for Bland were the most cast for any candidate in Texas history.

Awards

The Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists (TACTAS) recognized Bland as Trial Judge of the Year in 2003 and Appellate Justice of the Year in 2007 and 2015. In November 2010, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice

John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as the 17th chief justice of the United States since 2005. Roberts has authored the majority opinion in several landmark cases, including '' Nat ...

presented Bland with the William H. Rehnquist Award, which is given annually by the National Center for State Courts to a state court judge who exemplifies the highest level of judicial excellence, integrity, fairness, and professional ethics.

References

External links

* 1965 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges Federalist Society members Texas lawyers Texas Republicans Texas state court judges Justices of the Texas Supreme Court McCombs School of Business alumni University of Texas School of Law alumni 20th-century American women lawyers 21st-century American women lawyers 20th-century American women judges 21st-century American women judges {{Texas-state-judge-stub