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

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 ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, 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 (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

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. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abou ...

, the

Texas State Senate The Texas Senate ( es, Senado de Texas) is the upper house of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 806,000 per cons ...

, and the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

Education and military service

Gammage was born in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

and attended

Milby High School Charles H. Milby High School is a public secondary school at 1601 Broadway in the East End, Houston, Texas, United States.Map

there. He earned an associate of arts from

Del Mar College Del Mar College (DMC) is a Public college, public community college in Corpus Christi, Texas. Founded in 1935, DMC encompasses two primary campuses and one campus annex with combined physical assets of more than $99 million. As defined by the T ...

in 1958 and a bachelor of science from the

University of Corpus Christi A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

in 1963, both in Corpus Christi. He obtained a master's degree from

Sam Houston State University Sam Houston State University (SHSU or Sam) is a public university in Huntsville, Texas. It was founded in 1879 and is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas. It is one of the first normal schools west of the Mississippi River and ...

in 1965 and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

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, 11,075 ...

in 1969. He also earned an LLM from the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law or UVA Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as part of his "academical v ...

in 1986. Gammage served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

from 1959 to 1960, Army Reserve from 1960 to 1964, and 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 of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

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 with its campuses in Pasadena and Houston, Texas. Established in 1961, San Jacinto College originally consisted of the independent school districts (ISD) of Channelview, De ...

, 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. Founded in 1923, it is accredited by the American Bar Association. South Texas College of Law Houston is the oldest law school in the city of ...

. In the late 1990s and early 2000s (decade), he taught at Sam Houston State University,

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi 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 ...

(formerly the University of Corpus Christi),

Texas State University Texas State University is a public research university in San Marcos, Texas. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to the second largest university in the Greater Austin metropolitan area and the fifth largest university ...

San Marcos San Marcos is the Spanish name of Saint Mark. It may also refer to: Towns and cities Argentina * San Marcos, Salta Colombia * San Marcos, Antioquia * San Marcos, Sucre Costa Rica * San Marcos, Costa Rica (aka San Marcos de Tarrazú) ...

, and

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

-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 parties find co ...

group of legislators that pushed for reform in the 1970s in the wake of the

Sharpstown scandal The Sharpstown scandal was a stock fraud scandal in the state of Texas in 1971 and 1972 involving the highest levels of the state government. The name came from the involvement of the Sharpstown area of Houston. Background The scandal revolved a ...

in which then state House

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

Gus Mutscher Gus Franklin Mutscher (November 19, 1932 – February 26, 2023) was an American politician who was Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives The Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the Texas House of Re ...

Brenham Brenham ( ) is a city in east-central Texas in Washington County, United States, with a population of 17,369 according to the 2020 U.S. census. It is the county seat of Washington County. Washington County is known as the "Birthplace of Texas, ...

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, physician and retired 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 ...

. 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 or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

Mark Wells White. In 1980, he was a special consultant to the U.S. Department of Energy under

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

, the last Democrat to win Texas in the Electoral College. 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 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 ...

, 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 direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

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 and as the 47th governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015. Perry also ran unsuccessfully for the Republica ...

. 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 or persons, especially one who recently died or retired, or as a ...

for his former "Dirty Thirty" colleague Joseph Hugh Allen, a former representative from

Baytown Baytown may refer to: * Baytown, Texas, a city in the United States near Houston, Texas *Baytown culture, an archaeological culture in the United States *Operation Baytown Operation Baytown was an Allied amphibious landing on the mainland o ...

. 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, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

for U.S. president, having traveled to

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

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 blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

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 American politicians 20th-century American 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 People from Houston Military personnel from Texas Justices of the Texas Supreme Court United States Navy captains United States Army personnel Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas