Reynaldo Guerra Garza

Reynaldo Guerra Garza (July 7, 1915 – September 14, 2004) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He was the first Mexican-American appointed to a federal court when he was appointed as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, and would later become the first Mexican-American, as well as the first Latin American, appointed to any circuit of the United States courts of appeals. Education and career Born in Brownsville, Texas, Garza received an Associate of Arts degree from Brownsville Junior College (now Texas Southmost College) in 1935 and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1937. He earned his Bachelor of Laws from the University of Texas School of Law in 1939. He was in private practice of law in Brownsville from 1939 to 1942. He served in the United States Army Air Forces from 1942 to 1945, after which he returned to his law practice in Brownsville, where he remained until 1961. Federal judicial service