
SARAH T. HUGHES (1896–1985)
Sarah T. Hughes is best remembered as the federal judge who swore in
Lyndon B. Johnson as president aboard Air Force One following the
assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas.
Hughes was the first woman judge to administer the oath of office to
this nation’s chief executive. But the diminutive judge — Hughes
was barely five feet tall — lived a life filled with accomplishments
and marked by firsts. Among other things, she served on the three-judge
panel that first ruled on Roe v. Wade, the case that overturned
Texas’ abortion law.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Hughes grew up in a household that
emphasized achievement. Following graduation from Goucher College in
Baltimore, Hughes spent two years teaching science at Winston-Salem
Academy in North Carolina, because, in her own words, “about the
only thing a girl could do at that time was to teach school.”
But early 20th-century American society’s view of a
woman’s place did not deter Hughes, who decided to study law.
“It all depends on whether you’re willing to work hard
enough to get what you want, not what stands in your way,” Hughes
told an interviewer in 1977.
In 1919, Hughes moved to Washington, D.C., to attend George
Washington University Law School. While a law student, Hughes worked as
a police officer during the day, attended classes at night, and then
traveled to her tent home near the Potomac River.
But it was in Texas where Hughes made a name for herself. Hughes and
her husband, George, a Texan whom she had met in law school, moved to
Dallas in 1922. She practiced law for eight years in Dallas before
getting involved in Democratic politics. In 1930, Hughes won election
to the Texas House, where she served three terms.
Hughes moved from the House of Representatives to the bench in 1935,
becoming the first woman to serve as a state district judge. Although
Hughes had visited Governor James Allred to support a political ally
seeking the judicial appointment, the governor decided not to take her
advice. Instead, Allred appointed Hughes to the 14th District Court in
Dallas.
In 1952, Hughes made headlines when she received a token nomination
for vice president during the Democratic National Convention in
Chicago. She withdrew her name before there was a vote and was later
quoted as saying, “The thing that I got the most fun out of was
running for vice president of the United States. I knew I had
absolutely no chance, but it was doing something I would like to see
more women do.”
Hughes was a longtime champion of women’s rights and jury
service for women. In 1954, while still a state district judge, she was
instrumental in the passage of a constitutional amendment that allowed
women to serve on juries in Texas.
After serving more than two decade on the trial court, Hughes decided
it was time to move up and set her sights on a Texas Supreme Court
seat. The year was 1958, and the seat Hughes sought was held by Justice
Joe
Greenhill, whom Governor Price Daniel had
appointed the year before. The 1958 race marked the first time that
candidates used campaign cash to buy television time to reach voters.
The Hughes campaign used a Dallas advertising firm to buy television
commercials supporting her. Greenhill’s campaign did not produce
television advertisements, but several of his supporters made
commercials that aired in Austin and Lubbock. The Greenhill-Hughes race
turned out to be one of the closest in Texas Supreme Court history.
Greenhill was the winner, tallying 580,994 votes to 566,807 for
Hughes.
However, the loss was not a setback for Hughes, who got the
opportunity to score another first in 1961. Kennedy appointed Hughes to
the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas, making her
the first female federal judge in the state. It took some lobbying for
Hughes to win that appointment. The American Bar Association and U.S.
Attorney General Robert Kennedy had opposed Hughes’ selection
because of her age; she was 65 at that time. Hughes asked the American
Business and Professional Women’s Club to undertake a
letter-writing campaign to support her for the appointment. Johnson and
House Speaker Sam Rayburn then lobbied the president, and Hughes got
the job.
The Roe case was one of the most important that Hughes heard
as a federal judge. In 1970, as a member of the three-judge district
court panel, Hughes ruled in favor of “Jane Roe,” holding
that the Texas abortion statute violated her constitutionals rights to
privacy. The panel based its decision chiefly on the Ninth Amendment.
In its 1973 decision in Roe, the U.S. Supreme Court held that
such abortion laws violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment.
Hughes retired as an active federal judge in 1975 but continued
serving as a senior judge until 1982. She died in 1985 at the age of
88.