Judge William Wayne Justice has died at age 89 after a long
illness. Texas can now exhale, and those who are crafting a New
Texas should take the life of Judge Justice as an example of the
type of justice Texas doesn’t want and won’t tolerate. Appointed
to the Federal District bench by President Lyndon Johnson in
1968, he became known as a liberal judge whose decisions
radically changed law and society in Texas. Justice did not
believe that the US Constitution and the bill of Rights were
static and unchangeable. he advocated the living constitution
viewpoint that the Constitution should evolve as the society
evolved. Consequently, he legislated from the Federal bench. His
legal decisions covered issues in prison reform, immigration,
public education, public housing and voting law. In one of his
more infamous rulings in 1977, Doe v. Plyler, he ordered that
undocumented immigrant children had the same rights as US
citizens and must receive public education. he also ordered
bilingual public education. Once his l