It was a typical Texas criminal case: agricultural worker Pete Hernandez was indicted for the murder of another Mexican in 1950; he was convicted quickly by a jury. Here it got complicated. His Mexican American lawyers appealed the jury’s decision not because of legal or trial error or a prejudiced judge but because the jury was all-white. The grand jury that indicted Hernandez was also all-white. The appeal was rejected by the all-white Texas Supreme Court. The Mexican American lawyers asked the United States Supreme Court to issue a writ of certiorari (call the case up). The Earl Warren Court agreed. They heard the case. (Hernandez v. Texas, 1954) Hernandez’s lawyers argued that Jackson County had a substantial Mexican-American population but in the previous 25 years not a single trial or grand jury member had been Mexican American. 6,000 Jackson County whites had served during that time. The all-white United States Supreme Court unanimously stuck it to Texas....(Read Full Article)