Hernandez v. Texas
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Hernandez v. Texas | |
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Court membership | |
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Case opinion | |
Majority | Warren, joined by unanimous |
Laws applied | |
U.S. Const. amend. XIV |
Part of a series on |
Chicanos and Mexican Americans |
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Hernandez v. Texas, 347 U.S. 475 (1954), was a
Background
Peter Hernandez, a Mexican-American agricultural worker, was convicted for the 1951 murder of Cayetano “Joe” Espinosa, a man that he shot in cold blood at a bar in
Hernandez's legal team appealed, claiming that Mexican Americans, although White, were treated as a class apart and subject to social discrimination in Jackson County, where the case had been tried, and therefore were deserving of 14th Amendment protection. Their task was then to prove that Mexicans were being discriminated against and that they had been excluded from the grand jury and jury. The State of Texas never officially barred Mexicans from jury service, but Hernandez's defense lawyers demonstrated that, although numerous Mexican Americans were citizens and had otherwise qualified for jury duty in Jackson County, during the previous 25 years no Mexican Americans (or, more precisely, no one with a Hispanic surname) were among the 6,000 persons chosen to serve on juries. This resulted in Hernandez having been deprived of equal protection of the law under the Fourteenth Amendment, as juries were restricted by ethnicity.
They appealed to the United States Supreme Court through a
Ruling
Chief Justice Earl Warren and the rest of the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of Hernandez, and required he be retried by a jury composed without discrimination against Mexican Americans. Hernandez received a new trial with a jury that included Mexican Americans and was subsequently found guilty of murder once again.[5]
The court omitted the focus of race by declaring that other factors influence whether or not a group may need constitutional protection. To determine if discriminatory factors were present in Jackson County, the court investigated the treatment of Mexican Americans. They discovered a county-wide distinction between "white" and "Mexican" persons. At least one restaurant prominently displayed a sign that declared, "No Mexicans Served." Additionally, until a few years earlier, some Mexican American children attended segregated schools and were forced to drop out by fifth or sixth grade.[6] These factors led the Supreme Court to their ultimate ruling that the Fourteenth Amendment protects persons beyond the racial classes of white or black, and extends protection to nationality groups of white race as well.
Influence
The ruling was an extension of protection in the
The oral arguments of this case have been lost. However, the United States Supreme Court docket sheet and letter from Justice Clark to Chief Justice regarding joining opinion are available online.
See also
References
- ^ a b Hernández v. the State of Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online
- ^ Hernandez v. Texas, 347 U.S. 475 (1954).
- ^ "Honoring Gus Garcia '38". Texas Law News. September 22, 2023. Retrieved February 27, 2024.
- ^ Hernandez v. Texas, 346 U.S. 811 (1953).
- ^ "Hernandez v. Texas". www.thestoryoftexas.com. Retrieved April 29, 2023.
- ISBN 9780195156003.
Further reading
- Soltero, Carlos R. (2006). "Hernandez v. Texas (1954) and the exclusion of Mexican-Americans and grand juries". Latinos and American Law: Landmark Supreme Court Cases. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. pp. 37–47. ISBN 0-292-71411-4.
- Olivas, Michael A., ed. (2006). "Colored men" and "hombres aquí" : Hernández v. Texas and the Emergence of Mexican-American Lawyering. Hispanic Civil Rights Series. OCLC 64592184.
External links
- Text of Hernandez v. Texas, 347 U.S. 475 (1954) is available from: Justia Library of Congress
- Hernandez v. State of Texas case, University of Texas School of Law archive
- Hernández v. the State of Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online
- A Class Apart Archived 2010-03-15 at the PBSon February 23, 2009.