District Judge Steve Ellis announced today that he is running for re-election as judge of the 35th Judicial District Court of Texas in Brown and Mills Counties. He is a Republican. Ellis was first elected in 1996 as 35th District Judge and he has been re-elected ever since. “I have done my best to be an honest, competent, hard-working judge who is tough but fair. I want to continue to strive to make a difference,” Judge Ellis said.
Ellis, age 59, graduated from Baylor University in 1973 with a B.A. in History and earned his Juris Doctor degree from Baylor University School of Law in 1976. He is a former District Attorney and Assistant District Attorney and he engaged in the private practice of law in this area for twenty years before his election to the bench. He is a 2005 graduate of the Texas College for Judicial Studies and a recipient of a commendation from the President of the State Bar of Texas in 2006.
The 35th District Court is one of the busiest in the region. Since becoming a judge, Ellis has presided over thousands of criminal and civil cases and approximately 200 jury trials. Despite a heavy docket in Brown County, he has maintained a clearance rate of over 95%: disposing of more than 1,718 cases in the district court during the last fiscal year. He has rarely been reversed on appeal.
Judge Ellis has a consistent record of improving the judicial process in Central Texas. In 1984 while still District Attorney, Ellis helped create Brown County Crime Stopper’s which through the years has assisted in solving thousands of crimes in our area. After becoming a judge, he implemented the Children and Divorce, Safe Exchange, and Mediation programs at the Family Services Center in Brownwood. In 2006 Ellis created the A.D.A.P.T. program as a judicially supervised method of treatment and case management for substance abuse offenders. Ellis helped form CASA in the Heart of Texas, Inc. in 1999. (CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocate. CASA volunteers serve as a child’s voice in court, representing the interests of abused and neglected children.) For his dedicated service, he was selected by Texas CASA, Inc. as its “Lone Star Proud for Kids Judge of the Year” for the State of Texas in 2002.
Ellis has many professional affiliations and honors. He was named in the Texas Lawyer, a statewide weekly newspaper, as one of the outstanding judges in our region of Texas. He is a member of the Judicial Section of the State Bar of Texas and the American Judicature Society, which promotes the effective nonpartisan administrative justice at all court levels. He has been appointed on several occasions to serve on the 10th Court of Appeals in Waco when an appellate justice had a conflict of interest.
Judge Ellis has been deeply involved in his community and in his church. He is also a cattle rancher. Ellis was named Outstanding Man of the Year 2002 by the Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce. He is a member and past president of the Brownwood Kiwanis Club. Ellis is very active in the Boy Scouts of America, having served as a Cubmaster and Scoutmaster for many years and raising two Eagle Scouts. He is currently the President of the Texas Trails Council headquartered in Abilene. He is a member and deacon of First Baptist Church of Brownwood where he has taught a Sunday School Class for more than thirty-four years. Judge Ellis was an Adjunct Faculty Member teaching Political Science at the Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom at Howard Payne University 2006-2007 and is currently serving on the HPU Board of Trustees.
Judge Ellis was married for thirty years to Debby Ellis, who died of inflammatory breast cancer in May 2006. Steve and Debby have three adult children: Rebecca Ellis Whitacre, an estate planning attorney in Dallas; John Ellis, a recent JD/MBA graduate of Texas Tech University, currently working as a Law Clerk for the Supreme Court of Texas in Austin; and Joe Ellis, a United States Air Force Academy graduate and First Lieutenant, who is presently serving our country in Afghanistan. Judge Ellis married Mary Jane Pittman in the spring of 2010. Mary Jane has two grown children from a prior marriage: Justin Pittman of Brownwood and Lindsey Pittman of Lubbock and two young grandchildren, John and Austin. When he is not serving in the courtroom or through another community organization, Judge Ellis enjoys spending time with family and working on his ranch.
