BROWNSVILLE, Texas -- Reynaldo Garza says he knew when he was appointed to a federal judgeship that he would be watched closely, not only because he was a new judge, but also because he was the first Mexican-American ever picked.
'I've always said I hope I got the appointment because I was qualified, not because I was Mexican-American,' Garza said. 'But I knew I had to do a good job or else they would accuse me of not doing a good job because I was a Mexican-American. Others might suffer because of it.'
Now that he is stepping down after 21 years, Garza said he hopes his performance paved the way for other Hispanics.
Garza took senior status this month on his 67th birthday, allowing the appointment of another judge, Patrick Higginbotham of Dallas, to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
But senior status is not exactly retirement. Garza has planned 7 trips to New Orleans in the next year to hear oral arguments, and he still will be writing opinions from his Brownsville office. He also will sit on 3-judge panels for the 11th Circuit Court in Atlanta.
Garza said everybody made a big issue of his appointment in 1961, but his Mexican-American heritage never made a difference in his work.
'On the bench, you're color blind and don't know whether a man's rich or poor,' he said. 'If we're true to our oath, we can't let those things interfere with truth and justice.'
Besides, Garza said, he never had experienced prejudice growing up in Brownsville, a Texas-Mexico border town that is about 80 percent Mexican-American.
'I decided when I was a little boy I wanted to be a lawyer and never wanted to be anything else,' he said. 'I was the first lawyer in my family.'
Garza earned a law degree from the University of Texas in 1939 and set up practice in Brownsville. He was offered a state district judgeship at one point, but told the governor who offered it that the only judgeship he ever would take would be federal.
Garza's wife reminded him of that statement when he was nominated for the federal judgeship later. Even though it represented a major cut in salary, Garza said his wife, Beth, told him, ''Money isn't everything.' I think she was sorry for that later.'
Federal courts were still fairly quiet in 1961, but business accelerated with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Since then, federal courts have been increasingly loaded with lawsuits involving constitutional issues, Garza said.
'Being on the appellate court is less pressure,' said Garza, who moved from U.S. district judge to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1979. 'If you don't finish an opinion today, you finish it tomorrow. When you're on the district bench, you do what you think the law is and shoot from the hip. You have a jury and you're always rushing to finish.'
Garza has little patience with critics who say federal judges have too much power.
'They've always been accused of that,' he said. 'The real power remains with the people. If we hold some law unconstitutional, the people can change the constitution.'
The insanity acquittal of John Hinckley Jr., the man who shot President Reagan, illustrated that judges and juries are sometimes hemmed in by narrow laws, Garza said.
'We're bound by the law,' he said. 'We're trapped. I've had to write decisions I wasn't happy with. But I took an oath to follow the law.'
Garza, a Catholic, said he also has had to rule counter to his personal religious beliefs by upholding abortion on demand. But he took the opportunity to throw in his two cents worth when writing opinions, he said.
Garza said he also fought his personal feelings when confronted with dumbbell lawyers who grated on his nerves.
His real faith lies in juries, he said.
'You pick them at random. You put them in a box and they always seem to come out with the right decision,' Garza said. 'I think that speaks well for the fairness of Americans.'
Garza will not name a favorite case, but he does remember a few light moments.
In one case, he sentenced a Spanish-speaking man to two years in prison and fined him $1,000. The interpreter mistakenly told the man he was facing 1,000 years in prison and a $2 fine.
'He fainted,' Garza chuckled.
