Question: How many Texas-born people have served on the U.S. Supreme Court?
Answer: Two
Tom C. Clark was born in Dallas in 1899 and was appointed to the Court by President Harry S. Truman in 1949. He retired in 1967 after President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Clark’s son, Ramsey Clark, as U.S. attorney general, avoiding a potential conflict of interest.
Sandra Day O’Connor was born in El Paso in 1930 and was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, becoming the first woman to serve on the nation’s highest court. She retired in 2006 and died in 2023.
