Former El Paso federal judge Harry Lee Hudspeth dies

Harry Lee Hudspeth, a former El Paso federal judge who expected a lot of himself and of those who sought justice in his court, died Sunday, April 7, in an Austin hospital. He was 88.

Hudspeth had a stroke in early January and was hospitalized for about six weeks and then was under home-health care, according to family. He initially showed signs of improvement before his condition worsened this past weekend. He was rushed to the Ascension Seton Northwest Hospital Sunday and was diagnosed with pneumonia. His wife, Vicki, and one of their daughters, Melinda, were with him when he died.

President Jimmy Carter nominated him to serve as a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, which includes El Paso. He was in office from 1979 to 2001. He served as chief judge of the Western District from 1992 to 1999, and served almost 15 years as a senior judge by the time he retired on Jan. 31, 2016.

One of the key cases that he heard during his time as a federal judge was Ysleta del Sur Pueblo v. Texas in the late 1980s. The tribe sought to protect its ability to offer legal gambling. Hudspeth ruled in favor of the Tiguas, but the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision. In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court undid the circuit court’s ruling.

“I kind of modeled myself after him,” said Senior U.S. District Judge David Briones, who practiced in Hudspeth’s court a few times before he was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in 1994. He took senior status in 2009. “He was fair, he knew the law and he served El Paso faithfully.”

He said that Hudspeth helped him learn how to handle his docket, and that he was always available to discuss a case and offer advice. He does the same for new judges.

“As far as I’m concerned, he set the precedent for me,” Briones said.

Family, friends and former colleagues described Hudspeth as fair, kind, funny and extraordinarily smart. Melinda Hudspeth said that her father was a very intelligent young man who skipped two grades in elementary school, graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor’s degree in government, completed the university’s School of Law, and earned his license to practice by age 22.

One of his first clerks was Kathleen Anderson, who went on to serve as an associate judge in the 383rd District Court and El Paso County Court at Law No. 5. She called Hudspeth “brilliant” with a dry sense of humor, which he would incorporate into some of his decisions. She remembered one time when he included a quote from “Alice in Wonderland” in an opinion.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Former El Paso federal judge Harry Lee Hudspeth dies