Latino legal defense fund pins hopes on new leader

The lawyer who’s advised Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on key policy issues for four years starts a new job today just six blocks from L.A. City Hall. KPCC’s Adolfo Guzman-Lopez has this story about Thomas Saenz, the new president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez: From the open-air observation deck on the top floor of L.A. city hall, Tom Saenz can survey his past, present and future.

Tom Saenz: That’s actually General Hospital, beyond General Hospital is Alhambra and actually where I grew up, probably just beyond there, that little hill.

Guzman-Lopez: Saenz grew up middle-class. His father spliced cable for the Department of Water and Power and taught him to respect organized labor. His mother, a school secretary, modeled the importance of standing up to authority.

It happened in the counseling office at Alhambra High School. Saenz, a gifted student, skipped the 8th grade. He recalled that a counselor advised him and his parents that he shouldn’t take higher-level algebra during his first year of high school.

Saenz: In retrospect I think he looked at the school I came from, which was an overwhelmingly Latino school. I think he looked at my name. I think he looked at my parents and that’s what this was based on.

And I was ready to accept what he said, but it was my mother who said no. And told him she was not going to leave his office until he agreed to enroll me in the highest level algebra class.

Guzman-Lopez: Saenz went on to earn bachelor’s and law degrees from Yale University. He returned to L.A. to practice law for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

A couple of years into his first civil rights job, California voters approved a law to deny public benefits to undocumented immigrants. Across the street from L.A. City Hall, Saenz spotted a reminder of his and MALDEF’s role in overturning that law.

Saenz: That’s the U.S. courthouse, that’s actually the scene of a lot of my work at MALDEF, that’s the district courthouse, for example, where Proposition 187 was struck down by Judge Mariana Pfaelzer.

Guzman-Lopez: In the next dozen years the civil rights organization scored notable victories in employment and education class action lawsuits. Saenz became counsel to L.A.’s mayor after MALDEF passed him over for its top job.

Four years later, he said he’s most proud of his work vetting the many appointees to a wide range of city commissions. His most notable defeat took place just a few blocks west of the federal courthouse. Three years ago, an L.A. County Superior Court judge ruled unconstitutional the state law Saenz crafted that gave L.A.’s mayor wide powers over the independent L.A. Unified School District.

Saenz is returning to the MALDEF building as Latino political and social progress co-exists with vicious hate crimes and discrimination in workplaces and schools. He acknowledged that many people feel uncomfortable with Latinos’ growing visibility in this country.

Saenz: As a society we need to figure out how to address those fears. We need to figure out how to address that anger. And we need to work together to ensure that the anger and fear doesn’t manifest itself in enacting laws and even undertaking acts that are dangerous, counterproductive, that are hurtful to individual people and to society.

Guzman-Lopez: He confessed to a shy streak he’s vowed to overcome as the high-profile, national face of MALDEF. Observers who’ve seen his passionate approach to litigation say that if he taps into his courtroom charisma, and holds onto his parents’ lessons about standing up for your beliefs, he could be the right fit for MALDEF.