Our History

Pete Tijerina is named executive director of MALDEF, and Mario Obledo is named general counsel.

MALDEF draws public attention after a judge rules that school officials in Hidalgo County, Texas violated the First Amendment rights of students expelled from Edcouch-Elsa High School after boycotting classes in protest of school district policies. MALDEF attorneys represented the students.

Mario G. Obledo is named president and general counsel of MALDEF.

Vilma S. Martinez is named president and general counsel of MALDEF.

In MALDEF’s first major national voting rights victory, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds a lower court ruling finding multi-member voting districts in Texas are discriminatory and must be redrawn to allow Latinos and African Americans the chance to elect their own representatives.

MALDEF succeeds in persuading Congress to extend voting rights protections to Latinos a decade after the 1965 Voting Rights Act was signed into law. The 1975 extension of the VRA leads to the establishment of bilingual ballots and other efforts to ease disenfranchisement of Latinos.

Joaquin G. Avila is named president and general counsel of MALDEF.

MALDEF challenges a Texas law denying funding to educate some immigrants. The 1977 lawsuit leads to the landmark 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that affirmed the constitutional right to a free K-12 public school education for all children regardless of immigration status.

Antonia Hernandez is named president and general counsel of MALDEF.

MALDEF files a lawsuit  in 1984 on behalf of families and school districts challenging Texas’ discriminatory method of financing its schools. The lawsuit leads to a unanimous Texas Supreme Court ruling in 1989 declaring that the state’s finance system is unconstitutional. The case led to greater equity of school funding.

MALDEF files a lawsuit that results in the U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding a lower court’s decision that held the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors had gerrymandered districts to exclude Latinos from gaining representation. The lawsuit leads to the election of Gloria Molina, the first Latina and first woman on the board in more than 115 years.

MALDEF files a lawsuit that halts implementation of the 1994 California ballot measure Proposition 187. The anti-Latino measure denied public services, including enrollment in public schools, based on immigration status.

MALDEF sues the national clothing retailer challenging recruiting and hiring practices that exclude minorities and women, in violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The lawsuit leads to revised policies and a $50 million settlement in November 2004.

Ann Marie Tallman named president and general counsel of MALDEF.

MALDEF challenges a Redondo Beach anti-solicitation ordinance as a violation of the First Amendment guarantee of free expression. A district court and the en banc Ninth Circuit, on a 9-2 vote, conclude in 2011 that the ordinance is unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear the case in 2012.

John D. Trasviña named president and general counsel of MALDEF.

MALDEF’s 2004 lawsuit, GI Forum of Texas v. State of Texas, consolidated with three other lawsuits as League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry, challenges the Texas Legislature’s 2003 redistricting plan. U.S. Supreme Court rules in 2006 that the plan denied Latino voters the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice, in violation of Section 2 of the federal Voting Rights Act.

Thomas A. Saenz named president and general counsel of MALDEF.

MALDEF files suit in 2006 challenging Arizona Proposition 200, which requires voter registration applicants to provide proof of identity at the polls on Election Day. A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals voids Proposition 200 in 2010. In 2012, the Ninth Circuit agrees with MALDEF and strikes down portions of the law.

MALDEF successfully moves to intervene in January 2015 in a lawsuit filed by Texas and 26 other states to President Obama’s November 2014 announcement of Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA), and the expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative. MALDEF represents three undocumented mothers living in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

A federal lawsuit filed by MALDEF in 2016 challenges a 2011 Kern County, California Board of Supervisors’ five-member districting plan, which includes only one district containing a majority of eligible Latino voters. A federal judge rules in 2018 that the plan unlawfully denies Latinos the right to elect candidates of their choice, in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, leading to a settlement on a new districting plan. The case marks the first VRA lawsuit filed in California in more than a decade.

MALDEF files a lawsuit in April 2014 on behalf of parents and families seeking to ensure New Mexico’s poor and at-risk children receive a sufficient education. A state court rules for the first time in New Mexico’s history that education is a fundamental right under the state constitution. The lawsuit leads to a state court ruling in favor of the plaintiffs in July 2018.