Latina judges make a case for representation
Newly elected jurists breaking barriers at Harris County courts
Ana Martinez remembers the comfort she felt when she first walked into Judge Vanessa Velasquez’s courtroom as a then prosecutor – knowing that someone in charge looked like her, that someone would hear her voice.
When Velasquez, a Republican, lost her re-election bid in 2018, she left the bench without any other Latina women presiding over Harris County’s criminal courts. That interval is now over, with voters this year ushering in Latina representation by electing Martinez and Natalia Cornelio, both Democrats who will start their terms as state district judges in January.
The women hope their presence will not only pave the way for attorneys who are aspiring Latina judges but comfort defendants and victims’ families who typically interact with a white judiciary. More than 45 percent of Harris County residents are Hispanic or Latino, according to the U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
“When you walk into a courtroom and see a face like you, or like your mom, for that matter, I think you feel that someone will be listening to you,” Martinez said. “You don’t feel like the system is really against you.”
Cornelio, 38, knows the importance of representation, having worked with her family as a child in Chicago to elect Mexican aldermen in Mexican neighborhoods where therewere none. They also supported the Migrant Farm Workers movement.
She eventually became a federal public defender before working at the Texas Civil Rights Project and becoming director of legal affairs for Harris County Commissioner
Rodney Ellis’s office. There, she helped negotiate and finalize the landmark settlement that reformed the county’s misdemeanor bail practices, which had historically discriminated against poor defendants.
Martinez, 40, is a Colombian immigrant who first practiced law in her native country before re-attending law school in the U.S. She clerked for a district court, interned at the District Attorney’s Office and then went into criminal defense, carrying over a passion for work on sex trafficking cases.
Both women embraced their heritage during their campaigns.
Many girls approached Cornelio throughout and shared how she inspired them, a sign that she had already begun breaking down barriers for minorities seeking careers in law, she said.
“The goal is to leave the place you get to cleaner than when you found it, to be the kind of judge that plants seeds,” Cornelio said.
Velasquez, whose judgeship partially inspired Martinez’s run for office, said she was astounded to realize she was the only Latina criminal district judge in Harris County from 2005 to 2018, when she lost re-election. No Latina criminal district judges have sat
on the bench over the past two years.
“I am glad to see that we’ve got some young Latinas that have run for the bench and have gotten elected to take over the reins,” she said.
Before Velasquez, former judge Elsa Alcala is thought to be the only other Latina who served in that capacity, according to the Mexican American Bar Association of Houston.
Besides Cornelio and Martinez, Harris County voters elected five other Latinas to judicial positions, including in the family, justice of the peace and appellate courts. In the past, fewer Latinas had run for the offices, possibly because of financial situations or a lack of connections, said Patty Fernandez, the group’s president.
“We see that Harris County is changing and we see that evident with the seven Latinas that were elected,” she said.
Because representation gets to the core of a shared experience, Martinez and Cornelio agreed that their presence in the courtroom will spread positive benefits to defendants and victims. Both said they find it vital to treat defendants with dignity and compassion.
“It’s one thing to speak Spanish and it’s one thing to actually know what being Hispanic is,” Martinez said. “It’s not just a language barrier, it’s an understanding of how things work.”
Language is important, however, she said. Martinez and Cornelio are also bilingual, which they say helps them stand out in a field of judges who typically rely on translators.
Speaking Spanish themselves can also result in more directness in proceedings, Martinez said.
When judges give warnings related to defendants’ immigration status, the translation can get muddled. The judge asks, “Are you willing to move forward with this case?” meaning a guilty plea, but the defendant understands, “Do you want to continue to fight the case?” They answer no.
Cornelio echoed some of Martinez’s concerns, adding that judges need to be cognizant that some of their defendants will leave the state jail or prison after finishing a sentence and be sent straight to federal custody.
During her time as a federal public defender, she realized many immigration cases stemmed from authorities learning of a defendant’s immigration status while theywere in state jail. Defendants deserve to understand that if they plead to a state offense and complete their sentence, their time in the system might not be over, Cornelio said.
The number of His panics in the Harris County Jail varies but currently stands at 17 percent of the total population, or 1,470 people, according to county data. Cornelio pointed out that historical record-keeping surrounding Hispanic people has not always been consistent because of a previous tendency to lump Hispanic and white categories together.
The judges will also be inheriting huge caseloads – around 2,400 for Cornelio and 2,300 for Martinez, they said. Cornelio added that she hopes to implement some easier administrative fixes to make her court more efficient, and the two incoming judges said they would look forward to appointing the public defender to indigent defendants’ cases.
Both of them – Cornelio in particular – say they support bail reform, meaning they feel poor people should not be locked up solely because they can’t make bail.
Martinez and Cornelio both beat male incumbent Democrats in their primaries: Judges Randy Roll and George Powell, respectively. Martinez, 40, ran unopposed in November, and Cornelio, 38, defeated Republican Arlene Hecht.
Defense attorney Colleen Gaido and public defender Te’iva Bell will also join them as new criminal district court judges, meaning 12 out of 22 criminal district court benches will belong to women.
No Latinas sit on the misdemeanor criminal courts. Two Latino men are misdemeanor judges, and another two Latino men are felony judges.