http://debianws.lexgopc.com/wiki143/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Ruby_Kless_SondockRuby Kless Sondock - Revision history2026-10-24T17:00:04ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.1http://debianws.lexgopc.com/wiki143/index.php?title=Ruby_Kless_Sondock&diff=2112825&oldid=previmported>Lepricavark: /* top */ prepended 'Use mdy dates' tag2025-05-22T20:45:18Z<p><span class="autocomment">top: </span> prepended 'Use mdy dates' tag</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|American judge}}<br />
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{{Infobox judge<br />
| name = Ruby Kless Sondock<br />
| image =<br />
| office = Associate Justice of the [[Supreme Court of Texas]]<br />
| appointer = [[Bill Clements]]<br />
| term_start = June 25, 1982<br />
| term_end = December 31, 1982<br />
| predecessor = [[James G. Denton]]<br />
| successor = [[William W. Kilgarlin]]<br />
| birth_name = <br />
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1926|04|26}}<br />
| birth_place = [[Houston]], [[Texas]], U.S.<br />
| death_date =<br />
| death_place =<br />
| education = [[Cottey College]] ([[Associate degree|A.A.]])<br>[[University of Houston]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]], [[Bachelor of Laws|LL.B.]])<br />
| party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]]<br />
}}<br />
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'''Ruby Kless Sondock''' (born April 26, 1926) is a former [[List of justices of the Texas Supreme Court|Associate Justice]] of the [[Supreme Court of Texas|Texas Supreme Court]]. She was the first woman to serve on the Texas Supreme Court.<br />
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Sondock initially attended the [[University of Houston Law Center]] in order to become a legal secretary, but she was admitted to the state bar a year before her graduation as [[valedictorian]] of her class (1962).<ref name="justice">{{cite web|url=http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/justices/spct/sondock.html|title=Ruby Kless Sondock (b. 1926)|work=Justices of Texas 1836-1986|publisher=Tarlton Law Library, [[The University of Texas at Austin]]|date=October 16, 2009|accessdate=December 19, 2010|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612053009/http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/justices/spct/sondock.html|archivedate=June 12, 2008}}</ref> Sondock was appointed to the Harris County Domestic Relations Court No. 5 in 1973 and to the 234th District Court in 1977. Sondock was the first woman to be appointed as a State District Judge in [[Harris County, Texas]].<br />
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Sondock was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court following the death of Associate Justice [[James G. Denton]] on June 10, 1982. Sondock served from June 25 to December 31 of that year, completing Denton's term. Sondock declined to seek election to the Supreme Court and instead ran successfully for reelection to her District Court seat the following year. Sondock was the court's first female justice, with the exception of a special all-woman court convened in 1925 to hear a single case.<ref name=justice/> Sondock formed part of the majority of the [[Texas Supreme Court]] in the landmark case of ''[[Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia, S. A. v. Hall]]''.<br />
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A distinguished legal mind, Sondock has received a number of accolades, including an annual lecture series on [[legal ethics]]. Former speakers at the Sondock Lecture on Legal Ethics at the University of Houston Law Center include [[U.S. Senator]] [[Orrin Hatch]] and Helen Thomas. On November 11, 2015, the Litigation Section of the State Bar of Texas inducted Sondock as a "Texas Legal Legend."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.law.uh.edu/news/fall2015/1104Sondock.asp|title=Former Texas Supreme Court Justice Ruby Kless Sondock, UHLC '62, to be inducted as "Texas Legal Legend"|last=Center|first=The State of Texas and The University of Houston Law|website=www.law.uh.edu|language=en|access-date=2017-03-07}}</ref><br />
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== See also ==<br />
* [[List of female state supreme court justices]]<br />
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== References ==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
*[http://www.hba.org/video/ruby-sondock-interview/ Interview] (video)<br />
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{{s-legal}}<br />
{{s-bef|before=[[James G. Denton]]}}<br />
{{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Justice of the [[Supreme Court of Texas]]}}|years=1982}}<br />
{{s-aft|after=[[William W. Kilgarlin]]}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sondock, Ruby Kless}}<br />
[[Category:1926 births]]<br />
[[Category:Living people]]<br />
[[Category:Justices of the Supreme Court of Texas]]<br />
[[Category:Texas Democrats]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century American women judges]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Texas state court judges]]<br />
[[Category:University of Houston Law Center alumni]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century American women lawyers]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century American lawyers]]<br />
[[Category:Texas lawyers]]<br />
[[Category:Texas state court judges]]<br />
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