Chief Justice Cayce was first elected to the Court of Appeals for the Second District of Texas in 1994. He is currently serving his third six-year term and is the longest serving chief justice in the state.
A native of Fort Worth, John graduated from Eastern Hills High School in 1971 and then attended Abilene Christian University. Prior to completing his undergraduate studies, he enlisted and served in the United States Navy Seabees until 1975. He graduated with high honors from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1978 and received his J. D. from St. Mary’s University School of Law in 1982. During law school, he served as Editor in Chief of the law review.
John began his legal career as a briefing attorney for Justice Charles Barrow of the Supreme Court of Texas. Upon completing his service to the supreme court in 1983, he returned to Fort Worth to practice trial and appellate law. As a practicing attorney, he successfully handled several significant cases as lead counsel including the landmark case, Elbaor v. Smith, 845 S.W.2d 240 (Tex. 1992), in which he persuaded the supreme court to overturn prior case law and hold "Mary Carter" agreements void as against public policy. He was a partner and co-chair of the appellate section of Fort Worth's Shannon, Gracey, Ratliff & Miller, L.L.P., when he was elected to the Second Court of Appeals.
When he took office on January 1, 1995, John became the youngest chief justice to serve on the court in its more than 100 year history. Upon arriving at the court, he implemented new rules and procedures to improve the court’s productivity and efficiency and eliminate backlog. During his administration, the court has been consistently recognized as one of the best managed and most innovative appellate courts in the state. In his first term, John also led a successful effort to construct a modern facility for the court in the Tarrant County Justice Center and supervised its design and construction. The court moved into the new facility in 1998.
In 2000, John was appointed by Governor George W. Bush to serve as Justice on the Supreme Court of Texas in In Re George, 28 S.W.3d 511 (Tex. 2000). He was reappointed to the supreme court in 2005 by Governor Rick Perry in Hyundai Motor Co. v. Vasquez, 189 S.W. 3d 743 (Tex. 2006).
Chief Justice Cayce has served as a member of the Supreme Court Rules Advisory Committee and the Texas Judicial Council. In 1996, he was chosen by his peers to serve a one-year term as Chair of the Council of Chief Justices of Texas. He is a member of the American Law Institute, the American Judicature Society, the Eldon Mahon Chapter of the American Inns of Court (Emeritus), the College of the State Bar, and the Texas Bar Foundation. He is a director of the Judicial Section of the State Bar of Texas and a member of its Appellate Judges Legislative Committee. He is also a member of the Civil Appellate Law Advisory Commission of the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. As a member of the board of the St. Mary’s University Law Alumni Association, he founded the association’s Fort Worth Chapter. He is a former member of the Texas Wesleyan Law School Dean’s Advisory Council and served on the Budget and Long Range Planning Committees of the Texas Center for the Judiciary.
Chief Justice Cayce is board certified in civil appellate law and a frequent author and speaker on legal topics. He has written articles appearing in the Baylor Law Review, St. Mary's Law Journal, the Texas Bar Journal, the Texas Insurance Law Journal, the Appellate Advocate, and numerous continuing legal education courses.
In addition to his professional activities, John is committed to helping families and children through church and community activities. He is a founding member and director of NewDay Services for Children and Families, Inc., a non-profit organization that works with the Tarrant County family and juvenile court systems to assist children and parents affected by divorce and juvenile crime. In 2009, he was recognized by NewDay as the first recipient of its “Community Servant Award.” As active and long-time members of their church, he and his wife, Diane, founded an outreach ministry to help couples in troubled marriages. John has also participated as a volunteer in humanitarian relief efforts including working in New Orleans as a member of a disaster relief team delivering food and other supplies to Hurricane Katrina survivors.
John and Diane have been married 34 years. They have two adult daughters, Heather and Meredith, and one granddaughter, Kaitlyn.
For more information, please read An Interview With Chief Justice John Cayce [4.68 MB pdf] by The Appellate Advocate, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, Fall 2005.
Staff:
- Staff Attorneys
-
Curtis Jenkins
Gino Rossini - Secretary
- Amy Brooks
Updated: 23-Nov-2009
