Meet Justice Thomas Baker
Justice Thomas “Tom” Baker was first elected to Texas’ Third Court of Appeals, Place 5 in 2018, along with Justices Triana, Smith, and Kelly. Then-candidate Thomas defeated a three-term Republican incumbent, and other Democratic candidates likewise prevailed, effectively flipping the court from all Republican to a Democratic majority of 4-2. Today’s court is now all-Democratic. Justices are elected to six-year terms, so this will be Justice Thomas’ first re-election bid. Although justices on the court may hail from any of the court's 24 Texas counties in the court’s jurisdictions, currently Justice Baker is the only one of the six justices on the court not from Travis County. He has resided 29 years in the Bell County city of Temple.
Born and raised in Denison, Justice Thomas J. Baker is a lifelong Texan who decided to devote himself to public service from an early age. Upon graduating high school at age 17, Tom enlisted in the United States Army with his parents’ consent and served a tour in Okinawa, Japan. After completing his enlistment with an Honorable Discharge in 1976, Tom earned a Bachelor of Journalism with honors in 1979 from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Bachelor of Arts in Government in 1980 with high honors at the University of Texas at Austin. Then, while earning a Doctor of Jurisprudence at the University of Houston Law Center in 1983, Tom was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the United States Naval Reserve. The following year, he graduated once from Naval Justice School, and soon after began serving in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps at the Naval Legal Service Office in Corpus Christi, the Naval Air Station in Agana, Guam and the Commander Naval Reserve Force in New Orleans.
