All rise

by Louise Ann Fisch

In 1961, Reynaldo G. Garza, of Brownsville, Texas, became the first Mexican American federal judge in U.S. history. A Kennedy nominee, Garza had risen from the obscurity of his humble South Texas beginnings to become a major player in Democratic politics. The careers of fellow Texans and political giants Lyndon B. Johnson and Lloyd Bentsen would become linked with his own. As an emerging power broker in the predominantly Anglo establishment, Garza personified the new elite in the Mexican American community and in the Democratic Party. Garza's long and storied tenure as a federal judge was marked by many more firsts. He became the first Mexican American chief judge of a federal district court, and, in 1979, Garza became the first Mexican American appointed to the United States Court of Appeals President Carter invited him to become U.S. Attorney General, which would have made him the first Mexican American member of a presidential cabinet had he accepted the appointment. Louise Ann Fisc