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Created page with "{{infobox officeholder |name=William Carl "Bill" Meier | office=Texas State Senator for District 10 (Tarrant County) | term_start=January 1973 | term_end=January 1983 | pr..."
{{infobox officeholder
|name=William Carl "Bill" Meier
| office=[[Texas]] State Senator for District 10 (Tarrant County)
| term_start=January 1973
| term_end=January 1983
| preceded=Don Kennard
| succeeded=[[Bob McFarland]]
| office2=[[Judge]] of the Texas Second Court of Appeals (Place 2)
| term_start2=January 2009
| term_end2=January 2019
| preceded2=Paul Womack
| part=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]-turned-[[Republican Party|Republican]] (1981)
| birth_date=August 1, 1940
| birth_place=Place of birth missing<br>
Reared in [[Waco, Texas|Waco]], Texas
| spouse=Unknown
| children=Drew, Roger, and Loren Meier
|residence=Bedford, Tarrant County
| alma_mater=University High School (Waco)<br>
Tarleton State University (Stephenville, Texas)<br>
[[University of Texas at Austin]]<br>
UT Law School
| occupation=[[Attorney]]}}
'''William Carl Meier''', known as '''Bill" Meier''' (born August 1, 1940), is an [[attorney]] and a former [[Texas]] state senator for District 10 and a former justice of the Second Court of Appeals.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mylife.com/william-meier/e529222251180|title=William Meier (Texas)|publisher=Mylife.com|accessdate=August 21, 2020}}</ref> He represented a portion of Tarrant County in the state Senate, where in 1977 he delivered the longest [[filibuster]] in world history, forty-three hours.<ref name=filibuster>{{cite web|url=https://www.texastribune.org/2013/03/14/43-hours-texas-senator-set-filibuster-record-77/|title=At 43 Hours, Texas Senator Set Filibuster Record in '77|publisher=''The Texas Tribune''|date=March 14, 2013|author=Justin Dehn, Aman Batheja, and Alana Rocha|accessdate=August 21, 2020}}</ref>
==Biography==
===Background===
Bill Meier was reared in [[Waco, Texas|Waco]], Texas, where he graduated in 1958 from University High School. Afterwards, he attended Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, on a [[basketball]] scholarship where he received a two-year associate's degree in science. Meier then moved to [[Austin]] in 1961 to attend the [[University of Texas]], at which he received his Bachelor of Science degree. In 1966, he received his Doctor of Jurisprudence from the UT Law School.<ref name=ballotpedia/> Meier started practicing law in [[Dallas]] and then moved to Tarrant County in 1969, living in Euless, Hurst, and then Bedford. He is father of three sons, Drew, Roger and Loren.
===Political life===
Meier was first elected to the state Senate in 1972 as a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lrl.texas.gov/legeLeaders/members/membersearch.cfm|title=Bill Meier|publisher=Texas Legislative Reference Library|accessdate=August 21, 2020}}</ref> In the 1974 Texas constitutional convention, which failed to produce a new governing document, Meier was chairman of the committee which formulated the duties and powers of the executive branch.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/constitutional-convention-of-1974|title=Constitutional Convention of 1974|publisher=''The Handbook of Texas'' on-line|accessdate=August 21, 2020}}</ref>
In 1979, Meier was voted among the "Ten Worst Legislators" of that year's session by ''Texas Monthly'' [[magazine]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.texasmonthly.com/mag/bestworst.php#1979|title=Best and Worst Legislators|publisher=''Texas Monthly''|date=1979}}</ref> a designation that does not always embarrass the selected member. In that same session, Meier was the president pro tempore of the Texas Senate.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lrl.texas.gov/legeLeaders/members/presprotem.cfm|title=Senate Presidents Pro Tempore|publisher=Legislative Reference Library|accessdate=August 21, 2020}}</ref>
A former [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], Meier was the unsuccessful [[Republican Party|Republican]] nominee for Texas attorney general in the 1982 [[general election]]. [[Mark White]] vacated the position to become the Democratic nominee for governor and unseated [[Bill Clements|William P. Clements, Jr.]], of Dallas, the state's first Republican governor since [[Reconstruction]]. Clements and the entire Republican slate were soundly defeated. Meier lost the race to the Democratic [[U.S. Representative]] James Albon Mattox (1943-2008), who vacated a Dallas-area U.S. House seat to become attorney general. Mattox won the Democratic nomination over former State Senator [[Max Sherman]] of [[Amarillo]]. <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/07/us/around-the-nation-apathy-of-voters-marks-runoff-election-in-texas.html|title=Around the Nation: Apathy of Voters Marks Runoff Election in Texas|publisher=''[[The New York Times''|date=June 7, 1982|accessdate=August 21, 2020}}</ref> In the general election, Mattox utilized campaign rhetoric positioning himself as "the people's lawyer," and suggested that Meier was too closely aligned with the interests of business. Meier forfeited his state senate seat when he ran for attorney general. On April 28, 2005, Meier was among several dozen living former Texas senators honored by the legislature.
In March 2008, Meier won a three-candidate Republican primary for the Texas Second Court of Appeals, and he was unopposed in the ensuing general election. He was reelected without opposition in 2014 and retired in January 2019, with two years left in his second term. A provision of the Texas code forbids a judge from seeking reelection once he turns seventy-five.<ref name=ballotpedia>{{cite web|url=https://ballotpedia.org/Bill_Meier|title=Bill Meier|publisher=Ballotpedia|accessdate=August 21, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/fort-worth/article173605726.html|title=Chief justice steps down as turnover strains busy Fort Worth appeals court|publisher=''The Fort Worth Star-Telegram''|date=September 17, 1977|author=Max B. Baker|accessdate=August 21, 2020}}</ref>
===Filibuster===
In May 1977, near the close of the regular legislative session, Meier spoke for forty-three hours against a worker's compensation bill that he considered "anti-business." His activity blocked the bill from being considered in the waning hours of the session.<ref name=filibuster/>
The previous filibuster record, for twenty-four hours, had been held by then [[U.S. Senator]] [[Strom Thurmond]] of [[South Carolina]], who spoke against adoption of what became the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meier, Bill}}
[[Category:Texas]]
[[Category:Attorneys]]
[[Category:State Senators]]
[[Category:Judges]]
[[Category:Former Democrats]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
|name=William Carl "Bill" Meier
| office=[[Texas]] State Senator for District 10 (Tarrant County)
| term_start=January 1973
| term_end=January 1983
| preceded=Don Kennard
| succeeded=[[Bob McFarland]]
| office2=[[Judge]] of the Texas Second Court of Appeals (Place 2)
| term_start2=January 2009
| term_end2=January 2019
| preceded2=Paul Womack
| part=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]-turned-[[Republican Party|Republican]] (1981)
| birth_date=August 1, 1940
| birth_place=Place of birth missing<br>
Reared in [[Waco, Texas|Waco]], Texas
| spouse=Unknown
| children=Drew, Roger, and Loren Meier
|residence=Bedford, Tarrant County
| alma_mater=University High School (Waco)<br>
Tarleton State University (Stephenville, Texas)<br>
[[University of Texas at Austin]]<br>
UT Law School
| occupation=[[Attorney]]}}
'''William Carl Meier''', known as '''Bill" Meier''' (born August 1, 1940), is an [[attorney]] and a former [[Texas]] state senator for District 10 and a former justice of the Second Court of Appeals.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mylife.com/william-meier/e529222251180|title=William Meier (Texas)|publisher=Mylife.com|accessdate=August 21, 2020}}</ref> He represented a portion of Tarrant County in the state Senate, where in 1977 he delivered the longest [[filibuster]] in world history, forty-three hours.<ref name=filibuster>{{cite web|url=https://www.texastribune.org/2013/03/14/43-hours-texas-senator-set-filibuster-record-77/|title=At 43 Hours, Texas Senator Set Filibuster Record in '77|publisher=''The Texas Tribune''|date=March 14, 2013|author=Justin Dehn, Aman Batheja, and Alana Rocha|accessdate=August 21, 2020}}</ref>
==Biography==
===Background===
Bill Meier was reared in [[Waco, Texas|Waco]], Texas, where he graduated in 1958 from University High School. Afterwards, he attended Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, on a [[basketball]] scholarship where he received a two-year associate's degree in science. Meier then moved to [[Austin]] in 1961 to attend the [[University of Texas]], at which he received his Bachelor of Science degree. In 1966, he received his Doctor of Jurisprudence from the UT Law School.<ref name=ballotpedia/> Meier started practicing law in [[Dallas]] and then moved to Tarrant County in 1969, living in Euless, Hurst, and then Bedford. He is father of three sons, Drew, Roger and Loren.
===Political life===
Meier was first elected to the state Senate in 1972 as a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lrl.texas.gov/legeLeaders/members/membersearch.cfm|title=Bill Meier|publisher=Texas Legislative Reference Library|accessdate=August 21, 2020}}</ref> In the 1974 Texas constitutional convention, which failed to produce a new governing document, Meier was chairman of the committee which formulated the duties and powers of the executive branch.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/constitutional-convention-of-1974|title=Constitutional Convention of 1974|publisher=''The Handbook of Texas'' on-line|accessdate=August 21, 2020}}</ref>
In 1979, Meier was voted among the "Ten Worst Legislators" of that year's session by ''Texas Monthly'' [[magazine]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.texasmonthly.com/mag/bestworst.php#1979|title=Best and Worst Legislators|publisher=''Texas Monthly''|date=1979}}</ref> a designation that does not always embarrass the selected member. In that same session, Meier was the president pro tempore of the Texas Senate.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lrl.texas.gov/legeLeaders/members/presprotem.cfm|title=Senate Presidents Pro Tempore|publisher=Legislative Reference Library|accessdate=August 21, 2020}}</ref>
A former [[Democratic Party|Democrat]], Meier was the unsuccessful [[Republican Party|Republican]] nominee for Texas attorney general in the 1982 [[general election]]. [[Mark White]] vacated the position to become the Democratic nominee for governor and unseated [[Bill Clements|William P. Clements, Jr.]], of Dallas, the state's first Republican governor since [[Reconstruction]]. Clements and the entire Republican slate were soundly defeated. Meier lost the race to the Democratic [[U.S. Representative]] James Albon Mattox (1943-2008), who vacated a Dallas-area U.S. House seat to become attorney general. Mattox won the Democratic nomination over former State Senator [[Max Sherman]] of [[Amarillo]]. <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/07/us/around-the-nation-apathy-of-voters-marks-runoff-election-in-texas.html|title=Around the Nation: Apathy of Voters Marks Runoff Election in Texas|publisher=''[[The New York Times''|date=June 7, 1982|accessdate=August 21, 2020}}</ref> In the general election, Mattox utilized campaign rhetoric positioning himself as "the people's lawyer," and suggested that Meier was too closely aligned with the interests of business. Meier forfeited his state senate seat when he ran for attorney general. On April 28, 2005, Meier was among several dozen living former Texas senators honored by the legislature.
In March 2008, Meier won a three-candidate Republican primary for the Texas Second Court of Appeals, and he was unopposed in the ensuing general election. He was reelected without opposition in 2014 and retired in January 2019, with two years left in his second term. A provision of the Texas code forbids a judge from seeking reelection once he turns seventy-five.<ref name=ballotpedia>{{cite web|url=https://ballotpedia.org/Bill_Meier|title=Bill Meier|publisher=Ballotpedia|accessdate=August 21, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/fort-worth/article173605726.html|title=Chief justice steps down as turnover strains busy Fort Worth appeals court|publisher=''The Fort Worth Star-Telegram''|date=September 17, 1977|author=Max B. Baker|accessdate=August 21, 2020}}</ref>
===Filibuster===
In May 1977, near the close of the regular legislative session, Meier spoke for forty-three hours against a worker's compensation bill that he considered "anti-business." His activity blocked the bill from being considered in the waning hours of the session.<ref name=filibuster/>
The previous filibuster record, for twenty-four hours, had been held by then [[U.S. Senator]] [[Strom Thurmond]] of [[South Carolina]], who spoke against adoption of what became the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meier, Bill}}
[[Category:Texas]]
[[Category:Attorneys]]
[[Category:State Senators]]
[[Category:Judges]]
[[Category:Former Democrats]]
[[Category:Republicans]]