Thomas Arthur Glaze (January 14, 1938 – March 30, 2012)[1] [2] [3] was an American lawyer. He served as a justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court from 1987 to 2008.[1] [2]
Glaze was born on January 14, 1938, in Joplin, Missouri.[3] He was the son of Harry "Slick" Glaze, a sheet-metal worker, and Mamie Rose Guetterman Glaze, who worked on an airplane-parts assembly line.[1] He was an active participant in sports and played baseball for the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.[1] [4] He received his law degree from the University of Arkansas School of Law, and gained admission to the bar in 1964.[3]
After law school in 1964, Glaze began his career with the Election Research Council (ERC), an organization funded by Republican Winthrop Rockefeller, focusing on election fraud.[1] [5] As deputy Attorney General of Arkansas in 1969, he attempted to overhaul the state's election laws, but his proposals underwent significant modifications by the Arkansas General Assembly.[1] [5] He later founded The Election Laws Institute to monitor elections and address fraudulent activities, particularly in counties such as Conway County and Searcy County known for voting irregularities.[1] [5]
By 1978, Glaze had been appointed as a chancery judge in Pulaski County.[1] [4]
In 1980, he joined the Arkansas Court of Appeals and by 1986, he became a justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court, a position he held for twenty-two years before retiring in 2008 due to Parkinson's disease.[1] [4] While on the bench, Glaze was involved in various decisions, some of which pertained to non-discrimination and public education financing.[1]
Glaze married Susan Askins, with whom he had four children.[1] The couple divorced in 1974, and in 1978, he married Phyllis Laser.[1] Glaze authored a memoir titled Waiting for the Cemetery Vote, which highlighted his experiences confronting election fraud.[1] [4] He died on March 30, 2012, and was buried in Mount Holly Cemetery in Little Rock.[1]