Rose Spector (born July 9, 1933) is a lawyer and judge based in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. In 1992, she became the first woman to be elected to the state's highest court.

Early life and education

Spector was born in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

, the daughter of Jack Birenberg and Sophie Weprinsky Birenberg. Her family was Jewish; her father was in the garment trade. She attended

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in New York, receiving her B.A. in 1954. She attended

St. Mary's University School of Law St. Mary's University School of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of St. Mary's University, a private Catholic university located in San Antonio, Texas. Academics The School of Law has an enrollment of about 770 students, pursu ...

, receiving her J.D., magna cum laude, in 1965 and was admitted to the Texas bar. Her older sister,

Marcia Nasatir Marcia Nasatir (May 8, 1926 – August 3, 2021) was an American film producer and studio executive. She was the first female vice-president of a major movie studio, when she became a vice-president at United Artists in 1974. Early life Marcia ...

, was a film producer and vice-president of

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...

Career as judge

Spector became a judge on the Municipal Court of the city of

Olmos Park, Texas Olmos Park is a city in Bexar County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,237 at the 2010 census. The town is noted for its park-like setting, oak-tree lined streets, and large estates, many of which were constructed during the 1920s. The t ...

, in 1969 and of the

Bexar County Bexar County ( or ; es, Béxar ) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in South Texas and its county seat is San Antonio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,009,324. Bexar County is included in the San Antonio–New Bra ...

Court of Law in 1975. She served as District Judge of the 131st Judicial District of Texas from 1981 to 1992. She was elected Justice of the

Texas Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX) is the supreme court, 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 ...

in 1992 and served from 1993 until 1998. She was the first woman to be elected to the state's highest court.An Interview With the Next Supreme Court Justice
/ref> She served until 1998, when she lost her re-election during a sweep of judicial elections in Texas by Republican candidates. Alongside Raul A. Gonzalez, whose term also expired in 1998, Spector is one of the last two Democrats to have served as a Texas Supreme Court Justice. Among her many judicial opinions, her dissent in Twyman v. Twyman is often studied in family law. In that case, the majority opinion was authored by then-justice

John Cornyn John Cornyn III ( ; born February 2, 1952) is an American politician and attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Texas, a seat he has held since 2002. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the Senate majority whip for ...

, adopting the

Restatement of Torts In American jurisprudence, the ''Restatements of the Law'' are a set of treatises on legal subjects that seek to inform judges and lawyers about general principles of common law. There are now four series of ''Restatements'', all published by the ...

standard for intentional infliction of

emotional distress In medicine, distress is an aversive state in which a person is unable to completely adapt to stressors and their resulting stress and shows maladaptive behaviors. It can be evident in the presence of various phenomena, such as inappropriate so ...

, but Justice Spector dissenting, arguing that in this case, award of damages to the wife for the proven abuse of the wife by her husband should be upheld under the standards for negligent infliction of emotional distress that had been thought to apply at the time of the lower court's verdict.

References

Sources

*Twyman v. Twyman, 855 S.W.2d 619 (Texas 1993).
An Unusual History of Women Serving on the Texas Supreme CourtInterview with Rose Spector, UTSA Oral History ProjectCossman's The Story of Twyman v. Twyman: Politics, Tort Reform, and Emotional Distress in a Texas Divorce, in Carol Sanger, Family Law Stories
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spector, Rose 1933 births Living people Justices of the Texas Supreme Court Barnard College alumni St. Mary's University School of Law alumni People from San Antonio 20th-century American women judges 20th-century American judges 20th-century American women lawyers 20th-century American lawyers