William Wayne Justice (February 25, 1920 – October 13, 2009) was a U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Texas. During his forty years on the bench, William Wayne Justice was an instrument of change. His institutional reform decisions impacted the First Amendment, voting rights, education of undocumented children and prison reform. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas is comprised of seven divisions across a forty-three county sprawl. The divisions are named after the cities in which the federal courthouses are located1. The federal district courts are trial courts, with a single judge hearing criminal and civil cases. Beyond the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, lay the U.S. Supreme Court. A case tried …show more content…
Duke organized and publicized a rock concert in which she distributed leaflets challenging students to question their statuses at the university. This was followed by speeches criticizing the university's officials and policies. Following her firing, she went through a lengthy appeal process through various committees, the President's Cabinet, and the Board of Regents that denied her reinstatement. After a reversal by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, another case by Duke allowed Judge Justice to fully apply the tenements of the First Amendment to the facts of the case5. Justice reasoned that even though Duke did not have tenure nor contract for employment, she did have an expectation of reemployment conditional on enrollment. The due process hearing failed to provide her an adequate, impartial hearing as the people involved in the hearing were part of the Cabinet that conducted the previous investigation. Justice concluded that Duke had been dismissed because of her criticism of university policies and profane language, finding no evidence that disrupted her work or effectiveness as a teacher for the university. However, the appeals court concluded that there was insufficient evidence that showed