Hon. Jason Boatright
Fifth District Court of Appeals
Governor Greg Abbott appointed Justice Boatright to the 5th District Court of Appeals in 2017.
Justice Boatright was Chief of the Attorney General Opinions Division when Governor Abbott was Attorney General. These opinions are formal, published interpretations of law prepared at the request of government officials. Justice Boatright was also special counsel and an assistant attorney general in the General Counsel Division. Later, Justice Boatright served as the Director of the General Counsel Section of the Railroad Commission, which is the agency that regulates the Texas oil and gas industry. Before his service for the Attorney General and Railroad Commission, Justice Boatright was a briefing attorney for Presiding Judge Sharon Keller of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which is the court that reviews criminal-law decisions of all courts of appeals and trial courts. Justice Boatright has also spent several years in private practice helping clients comply with government regulations.
Justice Boatright is interested in the original meaning and sources of Texas law. He has written a history of the Texas Constitution and a study of Stephen F. Austin's first legal codes. He has also published research about the origin of the word "Texas."
Justice Boatright’s family has been in Texas since it belonged to Spain. They lived in Old Miller County, which included what is now Hunt County, part of Justice Boatright's judicial district today. In 1821, his family moved to Austin's Colony. They were members of the Old 300.
Justice Boatright was born and raised in Austin, where he was an Eagle Scout and a National Merit Finalist. He graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont, the University of St Andrews in Scotland, and the University of Texas School of Law. Justice Boatright was President of the Federalist Society and an editor of the Texas Review of Law and Politics in law school.
Justice Boatright moved to Dallas in 2014, where he and his wife are raising their baby daughter. He likes to hunt, read, drive, write, and run.