U.S. Senior District Judge William Wayne Justice, who more than a quarter-century ago ordered Texas to educate undocumented children, died on Oct. 13. After Mexican immigrants filed a lawsuit in Tyler, Texas, in 1977, Judge Justice ordered Texas districts to provide a free K-12 education for children without documentation of legal U.S. residency. Appeals in the case led to the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Plyler v. Doe, which held that all school districts are obligated to give children who reside in this country a free education, regardless of their immigration status.
A version of this article appeared in the October 28, 2009 edition of Education Week as Plyler Judge Dies
