On October 11, 2023, David Grey Hall, a Texas legal icon who had committed his career to social justice, passed away. He had just one month left to live before he would have turned 82 years old. He would respond, “Texas – clear back, both sides,” if people inquired about his origins after hearing his distinctive baritone drawl.
He would say this in response to their inquiries. And that was the case. His ancestry can be traced back to Reuben Hornsby, who, in the year 1832, worked as Stephen F. Austin’s land surveyor in the region that would later be known as Travis County.
David’s love for Texas was so strong that he took the courageous decision at an early age to commit his entire professional life to enhancing the state. In addition, he was able to accomplish this for more than four decades while serving as the director of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA), which is located in the Rio Grande Valley, which he cherished.
Despite the fact that David never took himself too seriously, he was quite serious about his work, and his achievements in the legal field were legendary.
He reached the steps of the United States Supreme Court in 1978, wearing trousers that were ripped out of his suit as he got out of the taxi. He was successful in persuading five justices that Mexican Americans were being unjustly banned from grand jury service in a county that was 80 percent Latino.
Although David was in the process of mowing his yard in Brownsville, he approached a federal judge who was presiding over an injunction case and asked him to sign a temporary restraining order. The judge then examined the order while David was finishing the mowing.
