Judge Thomas M. Reavley

A World War II veteran, Judge Reavley had a long and distinguished career in public service, having served as Texas Secretary of State (1955–1957), Texas Supreme Court Justice (1968–1977), and judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (1979–2020). His legal career spanned 72 years.

Born the 21st of June 1921, in Quitman, Texas, to Thomas and Mattie (Morrow) Reavley, he grew up in Nacogdoches, where his parents had a cafe. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1942 and enlisted in the United States Navy, where he served as an officer until his discharge in 1946. He earned his law degree from Harvard in 1948 and served as an assistant district attorney in Dallas and later as Nacogdoches County Attorney. He was a 33rd degree Mason.

Always an active Sunday-school teacher and lay preacher in the United Methodist Church, he spoke out in the late 1940s against racial segregation, even though his stance was unpopular in his native East Texas. At the time, he was engaged in private law practice in Nacogdoches, Lufkin, and Jasper. His outspoken opposition brought him to the attention of Allan Shivers, who in 1955 invited Judge Reavley into his gubernatorial administration and appointed him Secretary of State.

When his Secretary of State appointment expired, Judge Reavley returned to private practice in Jasper and Austin. In 1962 he ran for Attorney General of Texas, and though his campaign was unsuccessful, it brought him to the attention of the newly elected governor, John Connally, who in 1964 appointed him to the 167th District Court of Travis County, Texas.

Judge Reavley was elected to the Texas Supreme Court in 1968, serving for nine years. In 1979 he served as a Special Judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals—becoming one of the few judges in Texas history to sit on both state high courts. Later that year, President Jimmy Carter appointed Judge Reavley to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He served as an active judge until 1990, when he took senior status but continued hearing cases for another 29 years. During his early years on the Fifth Circuit, he earned an LL.M. from the University of Virginia. He had four honorary doctoral degrees from universities in Texas and California.

At the time of his death, Judge Reavley was the oldest sitting federal judge in the United States. During his tenure, he had the distinction of sitting as a visiting judge with all the United States Courts of Appeals but one.

Judge Reavley published many legal articles, served as an adjunct professor at The University of Texas School of Law, lectured at the law schools of Baylor, Pepperdine, and Texas Tech, and served on many judicial committees and civic organizations. With 11 other judges and a law professor, he was coauthor of a highly regarded 900-page treatise titled The Law of Judicial Precedent (2016). In the fall of 2016, Baylor Law Review dedicated a volume to Judge Reavley in recognition of his unique contributions to Texas and to American law.

Judge Reavley was a person of great personal integrity, compassion, and magnetism. Wherever he went, with whomever he spoke, he made an impression—whether with his colleagues on the bench, his law clerks, the staff at a restaurant, or beggars on the street (to whom he always showed kindness). He had a well-developed view of the law and its central place in a thriving society. No judge worked harder to master the facts of the cases under decision, and few had the skill to present a decision with so much clarity and candor.

Judge Reavley was married for 60 years to Florence Wilson Reavley, who preceded him in death in 2003. In 2004 he married Carolyn Dineen King, then Chief Judge of the Fifth Circuit. They were the only married couple among Article III appellate judges.

Survivors include his wife and four children, Thomas Wilson Reavley, Marian Neevel, Paul Stuart Reavley, and Margaret Currin; four grandchildren, Thomas Montenegro Reavley, Elizabeth Margarita Reavley, Corynn Johanna Roche, and Wilson Patrick Reavley; and four great-grandchildren, Santiago Antonio Campos, Isabel Salome Campos, Vivian Margaret Roche, and Josephine Marian Roche.

A private in person memorial service is to be conducted at eleven o’clock in the morning on Tuesday, the 8th of December. Friends are invited to view the service via a livestream that may be found on his online memorial tribute page at GeoHLewis.com. There friends may share memories and offer words of comfort and condolence electronically for the family.

In lieu of customary remembrances, memorial contributions, in memory of Judge Thomas M. Reavley, may be directed toward Baylor College of Medicine, Institutional Advancement and Alumni Affairs, MSC# 800 PO Box 4976, Houston, TX 77210; or to Baylor Law, Attn: Dean Brad Toben, One Bear Place #97288, Waco, TX 76798.