Linda Yanez

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Judge Linda Yañez, 59, of Edinburg, Texas, is a Democratic candidate for the Texas Supreme Court, running for Place 8 against Republican incumbent Phil Johnson on November 4, 2008. Yañez earned the right to challenge Johnson when she defeated Democratic challenger Susan Criss 51% to 49% in Texas's state primary.[1]

In 1993, Yañez was appointed to the Texas Thirteenth Court of Appeals by Governor Ann Richards, and currently serves as a Senior Judge. Yañez is running for Supreme Court Justice on the platform of a more balanced Texas Supreme Court, which she said in her earliest press release, now operates under "extreme right judicial activism." [2] Yañez ran for and lost a Texas Supreme Court race in 2002 against Michael Schneider, who was later appointed by George W. Bush to the Eastern District Federal Court. Phil Johnson, Yañez's current opponent, was appointed to replace Schneider in 2005.

2008 General Election results

  • For the Supreme Court, Place 8, Justice Phil Johnson won reelection, defeating Democrat Linda Yanez and Libertarian Drew Shirley on November 4. Johnson received 52% of the vote to Yanez's 45% and Shirley's 3%.[3]

See the article Texas Supreme Court elections for more information.

Legal Education and Experience

Judge Linda Yañez
Judge Linda Yañez

Judge Yañez received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas-Pan American in 1970 and taught in an elementary classroom before attending Texas Southern University School of Law, where she obtained her juris doctorate in 1976. Yañez also holds a Master of Law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, 1998.[4]

While growing up, Yañez's parents worked in the Texas cotton fields and in factories as well as vegetable fields in Illinois. Yañez herself spent part of one summer picking cotton while in high school. She credits these experiences as influencing her involvement in immigrant and migrant worker issues.[5]

During law school, Yañez served as a legal intern for the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago (LAF), beginning work on LAF's Migrant Project, which focused on assisting farmworkers with wage, hour, and working conditions claims. After completing her law degree, Yañez returned to LAF to begin her legal career, representing clients on a pro bono basis.

Yañez next worked for Texas Rural Legal Aid (TRLA), a federally-funded organization, assisting economically disadvantaged clients. During this time Yañez was part of a legal team that successfully argued for the right of all children to a public school education before the United States Supreme Court.

In private practice Yañez represented clients in immigration, family and federal criminal cases, eventually becoming the first female partner in the law firm of Weich and Black in Brownsville (now Roerig, Oliveira & Fisher, LLP). Yañez would later move to Chicago, where she served as Regional Counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF). Among other issues (employment, education and immigration), Yañez focused on voting rights issues, becoming part of an award-winning legal team she partially credits for the election of the first Latino elected to Congress from the Midwest.[6]

Yañez was next appointed as a Clinical Instructor at the Harvard School of Law, where she taught an Imigration Clinic composed of international students. She would leave Harvard for Washington, D.C., being appointed to newly-elected President Bill Clinton's Immigration Transition Team. She eventually wrote a book educating President Clinton on immigration issues.

In 1993, Governor Ann Richards appointed Yañez to the 13th Court of Appeals, where she has served for 14 years, writing over 800 opinions. She was the first woman to serve on this Court, and the first Latina to be appointed to the Texas appellate court system.[7]

Candidates in their own words

Justice Yañez outlined the evolution of her judicial philosophy in her response for the Dallas Morning News voter guide:

"As my career has evolved, I have become more convinced that Oliver Wendell Holmes got it right when he stated, "The life of the law is not logic, it is experience." [...] When I went to law school I had a purpose--that law degree was going to allow me to advocate for members of my community who had a history of being marginalized. As a lawyer, I was the voice of the voiceless; my advocacy skills were put into service for those who were unfamiliar and fearful of the legal system. I thus understand the plight of consumers, patients, and workers--both in their daily lives and when confronted with challenging corporate America in the courts. Furthermore, I have and will continue to represent the rule of law; while fully appreciating that as a judge, I also bring my life experiences to the bench."[8]

In a question and answer session with Charles Kuffner, a blogger who links to the Houston Chronicle, Yañez expounded on her reasons for running for Texas Supreme Court Justice:

"I believe the Texas Supreme Court, as an institution, was created as a multi-member court because it is charged with the duty of having a true debate on the serious issues that come before it. A true debate takes place when different perspectives are brought to the table. Given the current make-up of the Supreme Court, this debate is not taking place. All nine members of the Supreme Court are from the same political party, which has unfortunately translated into a "groupthink" mentality in their deliberative process. While they may appear to have differing backgrounds, they are actually of one mindset in their approach to legal analysis and seemingly result oriented decision making. [...] I will spur debate by bringing to the table a legal and judicial perspective that does not exist now, or ever before, on the Supreme Court."[9]

In an audio interview with the Houston Chronicle, Justice Yanez also expounded on her belief that change ought to be brought to the system by which judges are brought to the bench in the State of Texas:

"I think we should have a better system of selecting our judiciary. I used to not agree with that; I thought, no, we need to elect our judges so the people know who we are and have a voice. But even electing our judges, people don’t know who we are, and so I have come to change my mind on that issue. I think that we need a non-partisan or bi partisan committee of lawyers and citizens; like a screening committee of people who wanted to be judges. I know you cannot take the politics out of it entirely, but I think we’d get closer to getting judges who we can look at closely in a different system than we do when anybody can run and the voters don’t really know who we are, and just vote for us based on whether there’s a D or an R next to our name."[10]

In her own words, Yañez's legal career has been focused on giving a "voice of the voiceless. I thus understand the plight of consumers, patients, and workers – both in their daily lives and when confronted with challenging corporate America in the courts."[11]

Associations and Awards

Associations

Awards


At Texas's 2008 Democratic Convention

2008 Endorsement Video


Endorsements

  • Yanez endorsements
  • Progressive Voters League of Dallas
  • Association of Women Attorneys
  • Austin Black Lawyers Association
  • Austin Progressive Coalition
  • Bexar County Young Democrats
  • Central Austin Democrats
  • Corpus Christi Central Labor Council
  • Dallas Morning News
  • El Paso Tejano Democrats
  • Hidalgo County Tejano Democrats
  • Hispanic Bar Association of Austin
  • Houston Chronicle
  • Houston Stonewall Democrats
  • Mexican American Bar Association of Houston
  • National Latino Police Officers Association of Harris County
  • Nueces County Tejano Democrats
  • South Austin Democrats
  • South Texas Tejano Democrats
  • Southwest Austin Democrats
  • Texas AFL-CIO
  • University Democrats
  • West Austin Democrats

See Also

External Links

References

  1. ↑ Primary Election Results
  2. ↑ Linda Yañez announces campaign to bring balance to Texas' highest court
  3. ↑ Supreme Court place 8 results
  4. ↑ Criticism of Texas Supreme Court, Court of Appeals motivates judicial candidates
  5. ↑ Tejano Voices
  6. ↑ Candidate Q&A with the Houston Chronicle
  7. ↑ Candidate Q&A with Charles Kuffner
  8. ↑ Dallas Morning News Voter Guide
  9. ↑ Candidate Q&A with Charles Kuffner
  10. ↑ Candidate Q&A with the Houston Chronicle
  11. ↑ Supreme Attention: Dems for the Court
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