Eva Guzman Becomes First Latina On Texas’ Supreme Court
8 October 2009, 2:57 PM. By Alex Alvarez
Justice Eva Guzman, taker of cameo-style oval portraits, has replaced Scott Brister on the Texas Supreme Court, making her the first Latina to do so.
Eva’s background bears a few similarities to that of another famous first Latina - Sonia Sotomayor. Eva, who was born in Chicago but raised in Houston, is the daughter of Mexican immigrants who had elementary school educations, her mother helping to support her seven children by taking on a job as a cleaning woman. It’s just the kind of background the media loves to fetishize because it bolsters the notion of the American dream, but it also shows that Latino immigrants can and do routinely do very well for themselves across generations. Which isn’t news to us, of course, but it’s nice to remind everyone of it from time to time.
A graduate of the South Texas College of Law, Guzman practiced family and civil for ten years before she was appointed as a Harris County Family Court judge by then-governnor George Bush in 1999. She currently sits the Houston-based Texas 14th Court of Appeals, making her the first Latina to hold a position there as well.
She’s been named “Judge of the Year,” “Latina Judge of the Year” and “Appellate Judge of the Year” by various groups during the course of her career, but, perhaps most noteworthy, she was named one of Houston’s best dressed women back in 2003. Ay, por Dios.
So: She is basically awesome. And we’re glad to have another accomplished Latina on our radar.
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yay texicans! and damn, she got her hair DID before this pic. congrats!
Way to go Governor Rick Perry!
If she was appointed to the bench by the likes of Bush and Perry then I’d be worried about her politics, regardless of her so-called ethnicity. Seriously, I don’t see reason to celebrate.
you bring up a good point. however, i do think that it’s important to remind the majority that minorities are not cut from the same cloth. appointing conservative voices may make them feel safe, but their “othernness” may make them think about other’s circumstances. and it does pave the way for us coming up to have a place at the table. unfortunately, you get the gonzalezes, but then again you also get the marshalls.
I would just prefer not to applaud someone’s appointment to the state Supreme Court based entirely on his or hers so-called ethnicity (Guzman is American, by the way), rather I would judge them — no pun intended — on their opinions and rulings, which I have in the case of Guzman. I do this not to be a pain in the ass but because I have compassion for others, as I wouldn’t want someone to judge me as “great” or “crappy” because of my surname or whatever.
not a pain in the ass at all. it’s all part of the discussion. ad infinitum.
Actually, it is a pain in the ass. And you are just a hater. I live by the following words: “Para la raza, todo”
I’m so proud of Eva Guzman. She’s a wonderful woman. Aztlán smiles upon her!
Okey-dokey.
To be appointed by Bush and Perry she has to be a brainwashed Republican.
She must have forgot about her upbringing.
She will voting against everything her Latino cousins vote for.
She deserves to be applauded for achieving such a high honor. However, I don’t agree with her jurisprudence whatsoever. The sad reality is that in order to get that far ahead sometimes Latinos have to “sell out” and “overcompensate.” It’s a sad reality.
However, if you are a utilitarian, she is working towards the greater good of making it easier for Latinas in law to stick to their own convictions and hopefully one day achieve the same/similar status.
Rick Perry is a bigger asswipe than Bush and I would be suspicious of anyone he endorses.
AMEN TO THAT!!!!!!
They put a Latino (a) as a Judge?
there has to be a catch……………oh yeah!!!!!!!!!!!! Rick Perry is running for reelection!!!!! and he wants the latino vote!!!!
he usually “appoints” Latinos to cut his grass, trim the hedges and clean his house.
I knew there was a catch.
He is an asswipe.
Thank God I don’t live in Texas, you guys make it sound like a dystopia.
Yeah, Texas sucks bad, we have the worst Governor in the U.S.A.
( Now that Palin resigned ).
Perry only appointed her so he can try to get the Latino vote.
He must think we are idiots.