Sam Sparks
| Sam Sparks | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas | |
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Assumed office November 25, 1991 |
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| Appointed by | George H.W. Bush |
| Preceded by | New seat |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1939 (age 77–78) Austin, Texas, U.S. |
| Alma mater |
University of Texas (B.A.) University of Texas School of Law (LL.B.) |
Sam Sparks (born 1939) is a federal judge in the Austin Division of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.
After graduating from Austin High School as senior class president, Sparks received an undergraduate degree from the University of Texas in 1961 where he was a member of the Texas Cowboys and the Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. He earned a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Texas School of Law two years later. He clerked for Federal District Court Judge Homer Thornberry before turning to private practice.
His great-grandfather and his grandfather were also named Sam Sparks; the former was sheriff of Bell County, Texas, and the latter succeeded him in 1897. This Sam Sparks became president of the Texas Sheriff's Association in 1903 and the Texas state treasurer in 1906.
He was married to Arden Reed Sparks, until she died in 1990. He married his second wife, Melinda Echols, formerly of Fort Worth, in 1995.
Sparks was nominated by President George H.W. Bush on October 1, 1991, to a new seat created by 104 Stat. 5089. He was confirmed by the Senate on November 21, 1991, and received his commission on November 25, 1991.
Sparks once began an order with a poem, and began another order with the following: "When the undersigned accepted the appointment from the President of the United States of the position now held, he was ready to face the daily practice of law in federal courts with presumably competent lawyers. No one warned the undersigned that in many instances his responsibility would be the same as a person who supervised kindergarten."
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