American Experience

Narrator: Carlos Cadena took the lead in drafting the Hernandez appeal. Writing a tightly argued legal brief, he elaborated on the novel theory of “a class apart.” He also punctured the state’s legal position – that Mexican Americans were white, and therefore outside the protection of the 14th Amendment – with a few well-placed rhetorical thrusts.“About the only time,” Cadena wrote, “that so-called Mexicans, many of them Texans for seven generations, are covered with the Caucasian cloak, is when it serves the ends of those who would shamelessly deny this large segment of the Texas population their fundamental rights.”

Texas’s high court was not persuaded. The appeal was denied. The next step for the Hernandez lawyers, and a very risky one, was to turn to the United States Supreme Court.

Michael Olivas: It was an unusual ambition to take a case beyond Texas and to take it to the US Supreme Court. Moreover, no Mexican Americans had ever tried a case in the US supreme courts. They had no reason to believe that they would win.

Ian Haney-López: The lawyers in Hernandez gambled when they decided to take this case to the Supreme Court. They knew, on the up side, that they could win national recognition for the equality of Mexican Americans, but they knew, on the down side, that if they lost, they would establish at a national level the proposition that Mexican Americans could be treated as second-class citizens. And not just that, they knew that this was probably their one shot in a generation.

Norma Cantú: An appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States is a costly matter. You have to pay a filing fee, you have to pay for the printing of the briefs, you have to pay to travel to Washington, D.C. to argue the case.

Eleanor McCusker: They didn’t even have money to get up there, much less to really fight the case. And all that time away from home and their practice all shot because they were dedicating so much time to the case.

Narrator: Activists issued a national appeal for funds. The Mexican American community was generally poor, but the Hernandez case struck a chord.

Ignacio García: The American GI Forum takes it to the people. Its founder and – and national president, Hector García, has a radio program. He gets on the radio and he starts pleading for donations. LULAC does it through its chapters across the Texas and the Midwest requesting money.

So what you find is people sending letters and saying, “this is the Wharton LULAC Council and we’re sending you $25.” There’s a group in Chicago that sends $25. And then you had these individuals who are … are donating money. There’s a gentleman who says, “I heard you on the radio and I’m sending you this money please let me hear my name as someone who stands up for Mexican American rights.”

Martha Tevis: At one time Carlos Cadena literally had tears in his eyes. He said, “They would come up to me and they would give you crumpled-up dollar bills and they’d give you coins. These were people who couldn’t afford it, but couldn’t afford not to.

Dr Ramiro Casso: We all dug deep into our pockets and through the dollar bill and—and—and fund-raiser and a dollar bill there, and we made it you know—we made it.

Narrator: The Hernandez team had another problem – one of their own.

According to the rules of the Supreme Court, the petition was due on January 20, 1953, and had to be professionally printed. The Hernandez petition arrived on January 21st, a day late, typewritten. Despite the Texas Attorney General’s repeated objections, the Supreme Court decided to accept the submission. But it was a close call – and a troubling indication that something was seriously wrong.

Ignacio García: Gus García had a … a problem, ah with alcohol. Quite young in his life, ah, most people perceived he was an alcoholic and … and some of the discussions among reformers is can Gus García handle this opportunity.

Narrator: The activists who had backed the lawyers’ efforts for so long, began to worry out loud. Finally, they had the case they wanted before the United States Supreme Court. But perhaps, after going all this distance, Gus García would not be up to the challenge.

Ignacio García: I think in some ways, Mexican Americans were … were also intimidated by the process and said, you know, we’ve got to be up to it. We’ve really gotta look good there. We’ve gotta, seize the opportunity, and is Gus ready to do that?

Narrator: The case of Hernandez v. Texas was scheduled for oral argument before the Supreme Court and its new Chief Justice, Earl Warren, on January 11, 1954.

Gus García arrived in Washington early to prepare.

Time enough, it turned out, to give his doubters more cause for concern.

García knew that lawyers for the NAACP, led by Thurgood Marshall, had recently appeared before the Court, arguing the landmark school desegregation case, Brown v. Board of Education.

Hoping to keep up with the better-funded civil rights group, he retained a publicist and a hotel suite his team could ill afford.

Ignacio García: Gus García was looking at the issue and he–and he wanted the kind of support that African Americans had gotten. And the other reformers were dealing with the realities. That is, “We can come up with maybe $3,000 and that barely covers what we have to do.”

Narrator: Soon García was joined by the rest of the legal team, including John Herrera and Carlos Cadena.

Gloria Cadena: Carlos got to Washington and Gus had taken a hotel room for him. He had a bartender and he had a table set up with drinks and everything. Carlos was pretty furious cause they were on a short budget and Gus thought nothing of spending the budget because it was partly his.

Martha Tevis: Cadena went out to the airport to meet a man who was bringing money from San Antonio and the man said “how’d you like the money that we sent?” And he said, “Well there isn’t any of it left.” The man gave him several hundred dollars more and they both agreed that they would not tell Gus about the money. Cadena said, “Gus García was a scoundrel, and he was a liar.”

Narrator: January 10th, the final night before the oral argument. The next morning, Gus García would argue the case of a lifetime, a case that would determine not only his own reputation, but the future of the community that depended on him.
Sometime that night, García managed to evade the watchful eyes of his nervous colleagues.

Mike Herrera: He went off on a toot, and everybody knew but nobody knew where he was. And, ah, Gus shows up sometime rather late in the morning and he is very, very drunk.

Lisa Ramos: They knew they were about to face the Supreme Court Justices in a few hours, and here’s this man putting the case at risk. He was one of the two main lawyers who was going to speak before Chief Justice Earl Warren and the other Justices.

Mike Herrera: They threw Gus in a cold shower clothes and all. Ordered room service, a big pot of black coffee and, and went on to sober him up and, and get him ready.

Narrator: On January 11, as the lawyers marched up to the Supreme Court, the wintry chill reminded them that Texas was very far away indeed.

The lawyers were about to face a Court that had never before been addressed by Mexican American attorneys, or been asked to consider the question of Mexican American civil rights.