Abbott was the third Republican to serve as Attorney General of Texas since Reconstruction. He was elected Attorney General with 57 percent of the vote in 2002 and reelected with 60 percent in 2006 and 64 percent in 2010. Before assuming the office of attorney general, Abbott was a justice of the Texas Supreme Court, a position to which he was initially appointed in 1995 by then-Governor George W. Bush. Abbott won a full term in 1998 with 60 percent of the vote. He successfully advocated for the Texas State Capitol to display the Ten Commandments in the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court case "Van Orden v. Perry."