In 1981, Clements jump-started the long judicial careers of three San Antonio Republican lawyers, David Peeples, Tom Rickhoff and David Berchelmann with their appointments to state district courts numbered 285, 289, and 290, respectively. Rickhoff subsequently served on the Court of Appeals for the Fourth District. In 1989, Clements in his second term appointed Berchelmann as the first Republican to serve on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals; he was defeated in 1990 but staged a comeback in 1992 on the 37th Judicial District Court, on which he served until January 2013.