[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 118 (Wednesday, September 20, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S9781]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO JUDGE JAMES DEANDA

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, this afternoon I would like to take a 
moment to mark the passing of a great American--Judge James DeAnda. 
Judge DeAnda died of cancer on September 7, 2006, at the age of 81. He 
was appointed to the Federal bench by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 
and served as judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern 
District of Texas until his retirement in 1992. Before his 
distinguished tenure as a Federal trial judge, James DeAnda was a 
tireless civil rights advocate with what has become known as a 
``voracious appetite for justice.''
  Born in Houston, TX, James DeAnda was the son of Mexican immigrants. 
He attended Texas A&M University and served in the U.S. Marines during 
World War II before graduating from the University of Texas Law School 
in 1950, when there were only a handful of Hispanic law students. James 
DeAnda returned to Houston after graduation, but he had difficulty 
finding work because White law firms refused to hire a Hispanic lawyer. 
Not one to be discouraged, James DeAnda joined another Hispanic lawyer 
to form a legal practice dedicated to representing Hispanic Americans.
  In one of his earliest cases, James DeAnda was a member of the four-
person legal team behind Hernandez v. Texas, 1954, the first case tried 
by Mexican American attorneys before the U.S. Supreme Court. In 
Hernandez, the Supreme Court overturned the murder conviction of a 
Hispanic man by an all-White jury and for the first time gave Hispanics 
status as a distinct legal classification deserving of special 
protection under the Constitution. This case represented a watershed 
moment in our civil rights history because it opened the door to voting 
rights, education, and employment challenges by Hispanic Americans. 
James DeAnda himself used this newly attained classification to fight 
the segregation of Hispanic children within public schools. He was 
involved in a number of cases including Cisneros v. Corpus Christi 
Independent School District, 1970, in which the Supreme Court extended 
for the first time Brown v. the Board of Education to Hispanics.
  In 1968, James DeAnda helped found the Mexican American Legal Defense 
and Educational Fund, MALDEF. As one of our Nation's leading Latino 
advocacy organizations, MALDEF played a crucial role in Judiciary 
Committee hearings on reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act this 
year. Several MALDEF leaders testified before the Senate and House 
committees about the continued importance of the Voting Rights Act in 
ensuring equal access and fair representation for minority voters. 
MALDEF conducted extensive studies showing the unavailability of 
translated voting materials and language assistance to Spanish-speaking 
voters, despite the legal requirement that they be provided and clearly 
demonstrated the need for reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act.
  Judge James DeAnda inspired generations of civil rights advocates. 
The continuing work of the organization he helped to found, MALDEF, 
serves as an enduring legacy to this great American. Our thoughts and 
prayers go out to his family.

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