[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 17895]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           IN MEMORIAM OF A SON OF TEXAS: JUDGE JAMES deANDA

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. GENE GREEN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 12, 2006

  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in great honor and 
solemn regret for a great son of Houston that passed away last 
Thursday. I stand in honor of the late U.S. District Judge James deAnda 
who passed last week from a battle with cancer.
  The son of Mexican immigrants, James deAnda was born and raised in 
North Houston and graduated from my alma mater, Jeff Davis High School. 
He went on to graduate from Texas A&M University, but not before he 
joined the U.S. Marines and served in the Pacific during WWII. Once 
returning from service he graduated from the University of Texas School 
of Law.
  With a resume of this caliber James deAnda could have gone on to 
private practice and plea cases that would have made him a very rich 
man. Instead he went on to fight for the disproportionate and 
unrepresented Texans of that time. James deAnda went on to work cases, 
pro-bono cases, to fight segregation of Hispanics within Texas' 
schools, he also won a Supreme Court ruling stating that Hispanics were 
a separate group deserving of the same constitutional protection as 
other minorities.
  While his career was a long and great one, cases such as these serve 
as witness to the type of character that Judge deAnda was. A man that 
never sought after the limelight or recognition.
  Fortunately for all of us, he did gain recognition 1979, when 
President Jimmy Carter appointed James deAnda to serve as Federal Judge 
for the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Texas. He later 
would serve as Chief Judge of the Southern District of Texas. He became 
the second Hispanic to be appointed to a Federal Judge bench.
  He served in this role with distinction until he retired in 1988, he 
went back to work in the private sector until he began cancer therapy.
  Judge James deAnda leaves us with a great sense of honor and pride. 
The footprints that he has left for us will be hard to follow. Judge 
deAnda took part in the creation of the Texas Rural Legal Aid and he 
was the co-founder of the Mexican American Legal Defense and 
Educational Fund, but most importantly he changed the law to work for 
all men and women during a time when there were many that were opposed 
to such change.
  Mr. Speaker I ask for one minute of silence in honor of Judge James 
deAnda, not only a son and public servant of Texas but also of this 
great Nation. I ask this as his service takes place back home in 
Houston.

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