Hall was unsuccessful in an attempt to receive the Democratic Party nomination for Congress in the 1st district in 1962. He served as chairman of Marshall's board of education from 1972 to 1976.
In 1976 Hall won a special election for the U.S. House after the death of incumbent Wright Patman. He was reelected five times and served on the Judiciary and Veterans' Affairs committees.[1]
Federal judicial service
On April 17, 1985, Hall was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated by Judge Joseph Jefferson Fisher. The move was engineered by Republican Senator Phil Gramm as a way to demonstrate southern support for Reagan's administration—with many conservative Democratic areas of the southern states trending towards Republicans, Gramm and other observers assumed a Republican would win Hall's seat in a special election. Hall was quickly confirmed by the United States Senate on May 3, 1985, and subsequently resigned his seat in Congress to be sworn in as judge, receiving his commission on May 10, 1985. (Gramm's ploy to have Hall succeeded by a Republican failed when the special election was won by Democrat Jim Chapman, who defeated Republican Edd Hargett.[2] ) Hall served on the bench until his death in Marshall on April 10, 1994. He was buried at New Grover Cemetery in Marshall.[1]
Honor
The Sam B. Hall Federal Courthouse in Marshall was later renamed in his honor.