Jeffrey V. Brown, known as Jeff Brown (born 1970), is a justice of the Texas Supreme Court. He has held the Place 6 seat on the court since October 3, 2013, under appointment from Governor Rick Perry. He succeeded Justice Nathan Hecht after Hecht's appointment to chief justice to replace Wallace B. Jefferson, who resigned.
Early life and education
Brown's father was a police officer. He became an Eagle Scout at age 16. In 1988, Justice Brown graduated from Bishop Lynch High School in Dallas, Texas. He earned his bachelor's degree in English from the University of Texas and his law degree with high honors from the University of Houston Law Center, where he served as one of the editors of the Houston Law Review. He served as a law clerk to Texas Supreme Court Justices Jack Hightower and Greg Abbott. He became certified in civil trial law and practiced with the Houston firm of Baker Botts L.L.P.
Judicial career
From 2007 to 2013, he was a justice on Houston's 14th Court of Appeals. Prior to that, he was the judge of the 55th Texas State District Court.
Brown ran unsuccessfully for the Place 3 position on the Texas Supreme Court in the 2010 Republican primary. He finished in fifth place with 188,238 votes (16.8 percent). However, he trailed the leading vote-getter, Rick Green, by over 24,000 votes. Five of the six candidates ran within close range of the others; therefore, Brown's fifth place was a comparatively strong showing.
Though the Supreme Court term to which was appointed technically runs through 2018, Brown must stand for special election in 2014 to keep the position. He claims to hold a "conservative judicial philosophy".In the Republican primary election held on March 4, 2014, Brown defeated an intraparty challenge from Joe Richard Pool, Jr., son of the late U.S. Representative Joe R. Pool, Sr., who in the 1960s held Texas' 3rd congressional district seat. Brown received 820,582 votes (71.9 percent) to Pool's 320,558 (28.1 percent).
In the November 4, general election, Brown defeated the Republican-turned-Democrat Lawrence E. Meyers (born 1947) of Fort Worth. Brown polled 2,772,056 votes (60.3 percent) to Meyers's 1,677,341 (36.5 percent). Another 146,511 votes (3.2 percent) went to the Libertarian Party nominee, Mark Ash.Meyers has been a judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals since 1993; his current term ends in 2016. Meyers has been the only Democrat in a statewide office in Texas since December 2013, when he switched parties. Columnist Ken Herman attributed Meyers's defeat largely to his party switch. Meyers said his party bolt was motivated by the influence of the Tea Party movement on the Texas GOP.
Personal life
Brown and his wife, Susannah, a schoolteacher, have three children, Kathleen, Rob, and Gus Brown. They reside in Kyle south of Austin.
Honors
In 2016, he was awarded the Outstanding Eagle Scout Award by the National Eagle Scout Association.
References
External links
- Texas Supreme Court Profile
- Campaign website
