Source:
Associated Press U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice, whose rulings shattered old Texas by changing the way the state educated children, treated prisoners and housed its poorest and most vulnerable citizens, has died. He was 89. His law clerk, Kelly Davis, said the judge died Tuesday in Austin.
After only two years on the bench, he ordered the state in 1970 to eliminate racial segregation in public schools after many districts ignored desegregation federal policies. That ruling, U.S. v. Texas, affected more than 1,000 school districts and 2 million students statewide.
Justice ordered Texas to provide free public education for illegal immigrants and their children following a class action lawsuit filed in September 1977. The suit accused East Texas' Smith County of excluding children of Mexican decent from public schools because they couldn't show legal U.S. residency. Appeals led to a landmark 1982 Supreme Court ruling that extended the right nationwide.
Justice took control of the Texas prison system after a 1972 lawsuit filed by inmate David Ruiz alleged overcrowding and inhumane conditions. After a nearly year-long trial in 1980, Justice issued a sweeping 188-page ruling that said Texas prisons were overcrowded, understaffed and offered inadequate medical care. Justice also found that prison officials tolerated rampant violence among inmates, guards and inmates who worked as guards under a generations-old system known as building tenders.
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http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/101509dnmetjustice.21610d29a.html
Dragging Texas kicking and screaming into the post-Civil War 19th Century.
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