Wednesday, May 27, 2026
Page 3
Courthouse Named in Honor of Parents Who Litigated
By a MetNews Staff Writer
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The building at 350 W. First Street in the Los Angeles Civic Center will today be named the Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez United States Courthouse in honor of the parents of an 8-year-old girl on whose behalf they successfully challenged the establishment of “Mexican schools” in Orange County.
In Mendez v. Westminister School District, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California on Feb. 18, 1946, held:
“The natural operation and effect of the Board’s official action manifests a clear purpose to arbitrarily discriminate against the pupils of Mexican ancestry and to deny to them the equal protection of the laws.”
It declared “that the allegations of the complaint (petition) have been established sufficiently to justify injunctive relief against all defendants, restraining further discriminatory practices against the pupils of Mexican descent in the public schools of defendant school districts.”
Judgment Affirmed
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on April 14, 1947, affirmed, saying:
“We hold that the respondents acting to segregate the school children as alleged In the petition were performing under color of California State law.”
The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California said in an announcement yesterday:
“The case…drew national attention, including an amicus brief filed by civil rights attorney Thurgood Marshall, who would later argue Brown v. Board of Education before the United States Supreme Court. The Mendez case led to the desegregation of public schools in California and served as an important precursor to the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, which dismantled racial segregation in public education throughout the nation.”
2025 Litigation
Naming of the courthouse is pursuant to Jan. 6, 2025 legislation.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony in front of the courthouse is slated for 2:30 p.m. and a naming ceremony is scheduled for 4 p.m.
A public school known as the Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez High School opened in in the Boyle Heights in 2009. There are schools bearing the Mendezes’ names in other cities.
The child of the Mendezes, Sylvia Mendez, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a White ceremony in 2011.
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