A couple of years ago our local American Board of Trial Advocates chapter re-enacted the little known case of Lopez v. Seccombe. It received national recognition because it was the first case that plaintiff citizens argued that their constitutional rights were being violated due to the city not allowing Latino kids to use the public plunge in San Bernardino until the last day before the pool was drained.
Four years later, the same attorney from Lopez successfully argued Mendez v. Westminster School District. Latino children were not allowed to attend certain public schools even though they lived across the street from the school. The Mendez case is known as the precursor to Brown v Board of Education—but actually it all started with Lopez v Seccombe in San Bernardino.
Brown v Board of Education found that the Separate but Equal Doctrine was not equal and ordered desegregation of schools.
Desegregation of schools was no simple task because parents did not want their children to attend public schools with kids of different color, and kids of color did not want to attend predominantly “white” schools.
Little Mary Ellen Crawford became the plaintiff in the 1976 case of Crawford v Board of Education of the City of Los Angeles. The Supreme Court found that the City of Los Angeles had failed miserably in desegregating its schools after 22 years. The court ordered the School Board to come up with a plan to best desegregate its schools.
The late Superior Court Judge Paul Egly was assigned this almost impossible task because a couple of years before Crawford he had assisted the desegregation of San Bernardino city schools.
Judge Egly consulted with civil rights experts and determined that the best way to desegregate was through busing children to white schools, and vice versa.
In the 3 years of this assignment Judge Egly became the most hated person in the County! He received multiple death threats and he was persona non grata to almost all social events. He lost the majority of his and his wife’s friends because of his mandate to desegregate the schools.
Judge Egly refused to be swayed by the political and death threats and stood firm to his oath as a judge to follow the Constitution and the rule of law. After 3 years, Judge Egly resigned after a constitutional amendment was passed by California. He turned to education and was the founder of La Verne Law School, now located in Ontario.
Judicial independence is under attack like never before. This year’s James Otis lecture series is to educate high school students about the importance of the three separate branches of government and our democracy. Judges must not be beholden to political and social pressures in their decisions.
Judge Egly, like James Otis, fought for equality. The public must understand that politics plays no role in the judiciary.
Members Discussion