Hernandez v. Texas

SCOTUSCase
Litigants=Hernandez v. Texas
ArgueDate=January 11
ArgueYear=1954
DecideDate=May 3
DecideYear=1954
FullName=Pete Hernandez v. State of Texas
USVol=347
USPage=475
Citation=74 S. Ct. 667; 98 L. Ed. 866; 1954 U.S. LEXIS 2128
Prior=Cert. to the Court of Criminal Appeals for Texas. "Hernandez v. State", 160 Tex. Crim. 72, 251 S.W.2d 531, 1952 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1421 (Tex. Crim. App., 1952)
Subsequent=
Holding=The Court decided that Mexican Americans and all other racial groups in the United States had equal protection under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
SCOTUS=1953-1954
Majority=Warren
JoinMajority="unanimous"
LawsApplied=U.S. Const. amend. XIV

"Hernandez v. Texas", 347 U.S. 475 (1954) [ [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=347&invol=475 Full text of the decision courtesy of FindLaw] ] , was a landmark United States Supreme Court case that decided that Mexican Americans and all other racial groups in the United States had equal protection under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Background

Pete Hernandez, a Mexican agricultural worker, was convicted for the murder of Joe Espinoza. Hernandez believed that the jury could not be impartial unless members of other races were allowed on the jury-selecting committees, seeing that a Mexican American had not been on a jury for more than 25 years in his particular county in the U.S. state of Texas. Hernandez and his lawyers took the case to the Supreme Court. The legal team included Gustavo C. Garcia, Carlos Cadena, James deAnda , Chris Alderete, and John J. Herrera.

Ruling

Chief Justice Earl Warren and the rest of the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of Hernandez. The Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment protects those beyond the racial classes of white or Negro, and extends to other racial groups, such as Mexican American in this case.

ocial implications

The ruling was yet another step forward in the American Civil Rights Movement and another hit to racial segregation in the USA. This time, racial minorities other than African Americans benefited from such a ruling. The ultimate impact of this ruling, however, was that now all racial groups of the United States were protected under the 14th Amendment.

The oral arguments of this case have been lost. However, the United States Supreme Court [http://utopia.utexas.edu/explore/clark/view_doc.php?id=c70-04-406 docket sheet] and [http://utopia.utexas.edu/explore/clark/view_doc.php?id=c70-04-406 letter from Justice Clark to Chief Justice regarding joining opinion] are available online.

ee also

*List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 347
*Jury trial

Further reading

*cite book |chapter="Hernandez v. Texas" (1954) and the exclusion of Mexican-Americans and grand juries |title=Latinos and American Law: Landmark Supreme Court Cases |last=Soltero |first=Carlos R. |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2006 |publisher=University of Texas Press |location=Austin, TX |isbn=0292714114 |pages=37–47

External links

* [http://utopia.utexas.edu/explore/clark/hernandez.html University of Texas School of Law archive on Hernandez case]
*Handbook of Texas|id=HH/jrh1|name=Hernández v. the State of Texas

Court documents