Rochelle Mercedes Garza
Rochelle Mercedes Garza is an American attorney from Brownsville, Texas, who serves as one of the five Commissioners on the United States Commission on Civil Rights. She is a civil rights attorney who practices family law, criminal defense, Immigration law, constitutional law and is the president of the Texas [Civil Rights Project]. In 2017 a federal notice was named after her because of her work in a notable reproductive rights case.
She was the Democratic nominee in the 2022 [Texas Attorney General election].
Early life and education
Garza was raised in Brownsville, Texas. Both of her parents were public school teachers. Her father became a teacher, a lawyer and then served South Texas as an elected State District Judge for 21 years. Garza earned her Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Brown University in 2007 and her Juris Doctor from University of Houston Law Center in 2013.Career
Garza was a staff attorney for the ACLU. Garza became a managing partner of Garza & Garza Law, PLLC. Garza was a board member at Moody Clinic, Director of the Cameron County Bar Association, Chair at the Ethics Advisory Committee, City of Brownsville, Texas and a board member at Jane's Due Process since February 2019. On January 26, 2023, Garza was announced as president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, a civil rights litigation and advocacy organization for voting rights, immigration and criminal justice work.Notable cases
Garza represented a 17-year-old girl who came to the United States without her parents, and who resided in a government-funded shelter in Texas. The Trump administration would not allow her to leave the shelter to get an abortion. In 2017 the "Garza Notice", requiring that access to reproductive care be provided to teenagers housed in federal immigration detention facilities, was named after her.Attorney General election
In 2022, Garza was the Texas Democratic Party nominee for Attorney General. Garza won the runoff election, becoming the first Latina nominee for Texas attorney general.Garza was unsuccessful in the general election against Republican Ken Paxton. Garza received 43.7%, 3,482,909 votes while Paxton received 53.4%, 4,268,826 votes.