Justice Ken Wise is in his 18th year of service as a Texas judge. He served as Judge of the 152ndDistrict Court and the 334th District Court before joining the 14th Court of Appeals where he hasserved for the past 8 years. Justice Wise earned his bachelor’s degree from Texas ...
Justice Ken Wise is in his 18th year of service as a Texas judge. He served as Judge of the 152nd
District Court and the 334th District Court before joining the 14th Court of Appeals where he has
served for the past 8 years.
Justice Wise earned his bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University, where he competed as a
member of the intercollegiate rodeo team. He earned his law degree from the University of
Houston Law Center.
Justice Wise is very active in the service of the bar and the judiciary. He is a member of the
Texas Judicial Council, which sets policy for the Texas judicial system. He co-chaired a State
Bar task force that conducted the first complete study of the Texas Court system since 1892. He
served two terms on the Texas Access to Justice Commission. He has also served as a visiting
judge in counties across the State of Texas. Justice Wise is an elected member of the prestigious
American Law Institute, where he focuses on the laws of policing and the law of American
Indians.
Justice Wise is an avid Texas historian. He hosts the award-winning Texas history podcast Wise
About Texas which has been heard by over 1.2 million people in 152 countries worldwide and is
ranked in the top one-half of one percent of podcasts worldwide by ListenNotes.com. He is an
adjunct professor of history and government at Houston Baptist University. He has published
several journal articles and given hundreds of speeches on all aspects of Texas history. Justice
Wise is the President of the Texas Supreme Court historical Society and the Second Vice
President of the Texas State Historical Association. He is also a director of the Texas Historical
Foundation. He is also a member of the Delegados Board of the Bryan Museum in Galveston,
Texas.
A native Houstonian, Justice Wise is very active in the Houston community. Justice Wise is a
director of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and an advisory director of the Former Texas
Ranger Foundation. Justice Wise is an Admiral in the Texas Navy and the Governor of
Kentucky commissioned Justice Wise as a Kentucky Colonel.
Ken is a fifth-generation native Texan with roots dating back to Houston in 1836, and has one
daughter, Sarah Jane Wise.