Associate Justice, Texas Supreme Court, 1950-1961
Chief Justice, Texas Supreme Court, 1961-1972
Robert Wilburn Calvert was born February 22, 1905, in Lawrence County, Tennessee. His father, a sharecropper, died in 1912 when Robert was just seven years old, leaving the family without financial support. The following year, his mother brought Robert and his two siblings to Texas and placed them in the State Orphans' Home in Corsicana. For the next ten years he endured harsh conditions there including hunger, physical abuse, and near death during the influenza epidemic of 1918, which claimed the life of his sister, also a resident at the Home.
Calvert graduated from the State Orphans' Home high school as salutatorian of his class in 1923. That fall he moved to Austin and entered The University of Texas, where he studied law. He supported himself by working in state jobs at the Capitol building, dropping out of school from time to time due to financial difficulties.
Following his graduation from law school in 1931, Calvert practiced law in Hillsboro and entered public service, first as a district attorney. He was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1933 to 1939, and was Speaker of the House from 1937 to 1939. He ran unsuccessfully for state attorney general in 1938.
Calvert married in 1933, and he and his wife had two children. The couple divorced in 1958. He married again in 1962. During the 1940s, Calvert served as Hillsboro City Attorney, Hill County Attorney, and as president of the Hillsboro Independent School District. In 1946, he became the chair of the state executive committee of the Democratic party.
In 1950 Calvert was elected associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court, and held that post until 1961, when he was elected chief justice. He was chief justice until 1972. The 378 opinions he authored during his tenure were known for their brevity and clarity. Calvert served as chairman of the National Conference of Chief Justices from 1970 to 1971.
Following his twenty-two years of supreme court service, Calvert returned to private legal practice. He was a member of the Texas State Ethics Advisory Commission from 1984 to 1985.
Robert W. Calvert died October 6, 1994 in Waco. He was buried in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin next to his second wife, who predeceased him by several months.
Bennett, Bruce.
Judge Robert W. Calvert—Our Namesake. Robert W. Calvert, American Inn of Court website (visited September 21, 2006 ).
http://www.lorjw.bizland.com/id8.htmlJoseph M. Ray, ed.
Here Comes the Judge: From State Home to State House, Memoirs of Robert W. Calvert (Waco, Texas: Texan Press, 1977).Calvert, Robert W.
State Cemetery website (visited September 21, 2006). http://www.cemetery.state.tx.us/pub/user_form.asp?step=1&pers_id=3016Calvert, Robert W.
Texas Politics (visited September 21, 2006).
http://texaspolitics.laits.utexas.edu/html/just/justices/12.html
