Who Is Emilio Garza?
July 19, 2005 — -- Emilio M. Garza, 57, was one of a handful of contenders to replace Thurgood Marshall in 1991. But he only had three years of experience on the federal bench at the time and his views on many issues were unknown.
President George H.W. Bush nominated Clarence Thomas instead. If confirmed, Garza would be the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court.
The former Marine captain has degrees from the University of Notre Dame and the University of Texas School of Law. He practiced law in his native San Antonio for 11 years and served as a state district judge for a year before President Reagan nominated him to the U.S. District Court in 1988. Three years later, Bush elevated him to the 5th Circuit.
He has developed a consistently conservative record that includes criticism of the Roe v. Wade decision. One exception to his conservative views is his concern over the Texas death penalty.
In Causeway Medical Suite v. Ieyoub, Garza expressed dismay that the Supreme Court's broad readings of the word "liberty" in the Constitution "have slowly eroded the scope of public debate." He argued that if the court had stayed out of several arenas like marriage, child rearing, school curricula and abortion, state laws might have changed "as public attitudes changed."
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