Carlos Cadena; Won Key Supreme Court Ruling

Carlos C. Cadena, 83, one of the first two Latino lawyers to win a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. A legal scholar and retired chief justice of the 4th Court of Appeals in Texas, Cadena became Texas’ first Latino chief justice. Early in his career, Cadena and colleague Gus Garcia were asked to appeal the murder conviction of migrant worker Pete Hernandez. Because Latinos had been excluded from serving on the Hernandez jury, Cadena argued before the U.S. Supreme Court that they had received unconstitutionally unequal treatment. Four months later, the two lawyers won a landmark decision when the high court ruled that potential jurors could not be excluded from service because of national origin. The court ordered a new trial for Hernandez, who was again found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Born in San Antonio, Cadena served in the Army Air Corps in the South Pacific during World War II. He earned his law degree at the University of Texas and was appointed to the 4th Court of Appeals in 1965 by then-Gov. John B. Connally. He was named chief justice in 1977, a post he held until his retirement in 1990. On Thursday of cancer in San Antonio.