The Southern District of Texas Then and Now

The Southern District of Texas: Then and Now The Federal Bar Association May 23, 2013

Then: First Federal Courtroom in Texas Post Office and 21 st Street, Galveston, TX

Houston Division Now: Galveston Division Victoria Division Corpus Christi Division Laredo Division Brownsville Division Mc. Allen Division

General History

The First Federal Court in Texas Sam Houston One district, one court, one judge, all located in Galveston James K. Polk appoints John C. Watrous on May 26, 1846 -Same congressional act that made Texas A State -Former Attorney General of the Republic of Texas -Nearly impeached

Split into Two Districts Feb 21, 1857: Texas Divided into Eastern and Western Districts -Thomas H. Du. Val appointed for W. D. Tex. -Both Watrous and Du. Val stepped down rather than serve the Confederacy -Resumed duties when Texas restored to the Union Plains of West Texas East Texas Pines

The Confederate Court William Pinckney Hill appointed by Jefferson Davis in 1861 • Moved court from Galveston to Houston in Jan. 1862 for safety • Focus on Sequestration Act and war-related matters • Treason Indictments The Battle of Galveston 1862

Reconstruction Separate but equal doctrine Ineffectiveness of civil rights litigation Focus on economic reconstruction

Formation of the Southern District • Teddy Roosevelt signed bill on March 4, 1902 • District court sat in four cities: Galveston, Laredo, Brownsville, and Houston

Timeline of District Formation 1846: The District of Texas is created February 21, 1857: Eastern & Western Districts are created March 4, 1902: The Southern District is created. It includes the Brownsville, Galveston, Houston, and Laredo Districts. 1906: The Victoria Division is created 1912: The Corpus Christi Division is created 1984: The Mc. Allen Division is created

Prohibition “I have been in actual touch with the Liquor situation in Houston for three years now, and I know that the enforcement here has been only indifferent. ” – Letter from Harris County DA to Attorney General

The Great Depression

World War II Condemnation Actions • • • Corpus Christi Naval Air Station acquired in 1940 256 actions filed between January 1942 and June 1946 Land value disputes over subsurface oil

1980 s: The Oil Bust and the S&L Crisis

Notable Judges

Growth of the District There are 19 congressionally authorized district judgeships today

Where does the Southern District rank in number of judges? A. 1 st B. 8 th C. 3 rd D. 5 th • • • S. D. N. Y. has 28 C. D. Cal. has 27 N. D. Ill. has 22 E. D. Pa. has 22 S. D. Tex. has 19

Waller T. Burns

James V. Allred

Reynaldo G. Garza

Allen B. Hannay ''I've been around courts all my life. If you ever say you're going to quit, people start moving into your office. ''

Gabrielle Kirk Mc. Donald

Famous Cases

Smith v. Allwright, 321 U. S. 649 (1944) Challenging all-white Democratic primary

Dalehite v. United States, 346 U. S. 15 (1953) The 1947 Texas City Disaster

Conley v. Gibson 355 U. S. 41 (1957)

Clay v. United States, 403 U. S. 698 (1971) Muhammad Ali and the Vietnam War

Vietnamese Fishermen’s Ass’n v. Ku Klux Klan, 518 F. Supp. 993 (S. D. Tex. 1981) The Ku Klux Klan and the Vietnamese Fisherman’s Association

Santa Fe Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Doe, 530 U. S. 290 (2000) Prayer and high school football

The Enron Litigation

Courthouses

1861 U. S. Custom House in Galveston

1891 Federal Courthouse in Galveston

U. S. Post Office, Custom House and Courthouse in Galveston Ground broken Jan. 1, 1936

Corpus Christi Federal Courthouse Completed in early 2001

The Southern District of Texas Today

Where does the Southern District Rank Amongst Other Districts in Civil Filings? 7 th

What is the Most Common Type of Civil Filing?

Southern District Civil Case Filings March 31, 2011 -March 31, 2012 Total Private Civil Cases: 5, 085 Total Civil Cases: 6, 418

Where does the Southern District Rank Amongst Other Districts in Criminal Filings? 3 rd

Southern District Criminal Case Filings March 31, 2011 -March 31, 2012 Total Criminal Cases: 6, 936

Where does the Southern District Rank Amongst Other Districts in Total Filings? 4 th