Pre-Trial Transcript in Mendez v. Westminster
6/26/1945
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In the Fall of 1944, Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez tried to enroll their children in the Main Street School in Orange County, California. However, the school district had drawn boundary lines that excluded Mexican neighborhoods. The Mendez children were assigned to Hoover Elementary School, which was established for Mexican children.
Other Orange County Latino parents faced similar situations with their children. With the help of the United Latin American Citizens (LUCAC), they joined with the Mendez family and sued four local school districts – Westminster, Garden Grove, and El Modeno School Districts and the City of Santa Ana – for segregating their children and 5,000 others. The landmark case came to be known as Mendez v. Westminster School District.
The petition from the parents stated that the schools were violating students' civil rights by segregating students of "Mexican and Latin" ancestry in separate schools. In this pre-trial transcript, the attorney for the school districts denied that they discriminated in any way against the students, claiming that the students were "segregated for the benefit of the people...that they are handicapped by their deficiency in the English language."
Ultimately, U.S. District Court Judge Paul J. McCormick concurred with the petitioners, issuing an injunction against the school districts' segregation policies. He stated that there was no justification in the laws of California to segregate Mexican children and that doing so was a "clear denial of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment."
The school districts filed an appeal, partly on the basis of a states' rights strategy. The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court upheld the District Court ruling in 1947, and the Orange County school districts dropped the case.
Mendez v. Westminster School District landed an important blow to school segregation in California. And it underscored that the struggle for civil rights in America crossed regional, racial, and ethnic lines. Amicus curiae briefs were filed in this case by the NAACP (coauthored by Thurgood Marshall) and several other civil rights organizations, including the American Jewish Congress, the ACLU, the Japanese American League and the National Lawyers Guild. The case resulted in the California legislature passing the Anderson bill, a measure that repealed all California school codes mandating segregation. The bill was signed by Governor Earl Warren.
Pages 1-5 and 26-30 of this document are shown here. See the entire document in the National Archives online catalog.
Other Orange County Latino parents faced similar situations with their children. With the help of the United Latin American Citizens (LUCAC), they joined with the Mendez family and sued four local school districts – Westminster, Garden Grove, and El Modeno School Districts and the City of Santa Ana – for segregating their children and 5,000 others. The landmark case came to be known as Mendez v. Westminster School District.
The petition from the parents stated that the schools were violating students' civil rights by segregating students of "Mexican and Latin" ancestry in separate schools. In this pre-trial transcript, the attorney for the school districts denied that they discriminated in any way against the students, claiming that the students were "segregated for the benefit of the people...that they are handicapped by their deficiency in the English language."
Ultimately, U.S. District Court Judge Paul J. McCormick concurred with the petitioners, issuing an injunction against the school districts' segregation policies. He stated that there was no justification in the laws of California to segregate Mexican children and that doing so was a "clear denial of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment."
The school districts filed an appeal, partly on the basis of a states' rights strategy. The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court upheld the District Court ruling in 1947, and the Orange County school districts dropped the case.
Mendez v. Westminster School District landed an important blow to school segregation in California. And it underscored that the struggle for civil rights in America crossed regional, racial, and ethnic lines. Amicus curiae briefs were filed in this case by the NAACP (coauthored by Thurgood Marshall) and several other civil rights organizations, including the American Jewish Congress, the ACLU, the Japanese American League and the National Lawyers Guild. The case resulted in the California legislature passing the Anderson bill, a measure that repealed all California school codes mandating segregation. The bill was signed by Governor Earl Warren.
Pages 1-5 and 26-30 of this document are shown here. See the entire document in the National Archives online catalog.
This primary source comes from the Records of District Courts of the United States.
National Archives Identifier: 6277732
Full Citation: Pre-Trial Transcript; 6/26/1945; Civil Case File 4292; Gonzalo Mendez et al v. Westminster School District of Orange County et al, 3/2/1945 - 7/18/1947; Civil Case Files, 1938 - 1995; Records of District Courts of the United States, Record Group 21; National Archives at Riverside, Perris, CA. [Online Version, https://docsteach.org/documents/document/pretrial-transcript-mendez, March 27, 2025]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.
