Daniel C. Morales (born April 24, 1956) is an American
politician
A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...
. He served as the 48th
Attorney General of Texas
The Texas attorney general is the chief legal officer of the from January 15, 1991, through January 13, 1999, during the administrations of
Governors
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
Ann Richards
Dorothy Ann Richards (née Willis; September 1, 1933 – September 13, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995. A Democrat, she first came to national attention as the Texas State Treasurer, ...
and
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
. As Attorney General, Morales reached a $17 billion settlement with big
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
companies.
He also authored the controversial state interpretation of the ''
Hopwood v. Texas
''Hopwood v. Texas'', 78 F.3d 932 ( 5th Cir. 1996), was the first successful legal challenge to a university's affirmative action policy in student admissions since '' Regents of the University of California v. Bakke''. In ''Hopwood'', four whit ...
'' case, which ended all
affirmative action
Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries' laws and policies) refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking ...
in higher education in Texas until the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
reversed ''Hopwood'' in 2003. He is a graduate of Trinity University in San Antonio and
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...
.
Road to the Texas Legislature
Following his graduation from Harvard Law School, Morales landed his first postgraduate job at the Houston corporate law firm Bracewell and Patterson in 1981 and the following year joined the
Bexar County
Bexar County ( or ; ) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in South Texas and its county seat is San Antonio.
As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,009,324, making it the state's fourth-most populous county. Bexar County ...
district attorney's office. After an eighteen-month stint of prosecuting minor drug cases, the 28-year-old Morales ran successfully for the
Texas House of Representatives
The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...
representing the 124th District of San Antonio and was re-elected in 1986 and 1988. Morales said during an interview with
Texas Monthly
''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. Founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy, ''Texas Monthly'' chronicles life in contemporary Texas, writing on politics, the Natura ...
in 1996, that while toiling as a Bexar County prosecutor, "the exposure to the system and seeing victims get the shaft impressed upon me that changes needed to be made." Those changes, Morales came to learn, were best addressed at the legislative level, so he felt compelled to run in 1984 against the incumbent legislator and defense attorney Joe Hernandez. The young candidate excoriated Hernandez for, as Morales put it, "abusing the legislative continuance statute to delay the trials of rapists, murderers, and drug dealers he was representing
Attorney General of Texas
After six years in the legislature, the earnest but obscure three-term San Antonio legislator announced his candidacy for Attorney General of Texas. The position opened up following the two-term incumbent,
Jim Mattox
James Albon Mattox (August 29, 1943 – November 20, 2008) was an American lawyer and politician from Texas who served three terms in the United States House of Representatives and two four-year terms as Texas Attorney General, but lost high-pr ...
declining to seek a third term—and later unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Texas, losing the nomination in a runoff to then-
Texas State Treasurer
Texas State Treasurer was an elected constitutional officer in the executive branch of the state government of Texas, responsible for overseeing the financial operations of state government. The position was established in the Constitution of ...
Ann Richards. Though his professional history suggested no particular dedication to minority issues, Hispanics turned out for Morales in droves, enabling him to eke out a victory over the Republican nominee,
State Senator
A state senator is a member of a State legislature (United States), state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature.
History
There are typically fewer state senators than there ...
J. E. "Buster" Brown of Lake Jackson in the November general election polling 1,729,735 votes (51.81 percent) to Brown's 1,509,553 votes (45.22 percent). He was reelected to a second term in the largely Republican year of 1994 defeating Republican, Harris County Civil Court Judge Don Wittig, by polling 2,289,389 votes (53.70 percent) to Wittig's 1,850,403 votes (43.40 percent), but did not seek a third term as attorney general in 1998 and was succeeded by Republican
Texas Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX) is the court of last resort for civil matters (including juvenile delinquency cases, which are categorized as civil under the Texas Family Code) in the U.S. state of Texas. A different court, the Texas Court o ...
justice,
John Cornyn
John Cornyn III ( ; born February 2, 1952) is an American politician, attorney, and former jurist serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Texas, a seat he has held since 2002. ...
2014
The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
, and
2020
The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...
.
Run for Governor
In
2002
The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...
, Morales had been expected to run for the vacant U.S. Senate seat held by the retiring three-term Republican
Phil Gramm
William Philip Gramm (born July 8, 1942) is an American economist and politician who represented Texas in both chambers of United States Congress, Congress. Though he began his political career as a Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, Gr ...
, however, he entered the Democratic
gubernatorial
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...
primary for
Governor of Texas
The governor of Texas is the head of state of the U.S. state of Texas. The governor is the head of the executive branch of the government of Texas and is the commander-in-chief of the Texas Military Forces.
Established in the Constit ...
but lost the nomination to Tony Sanchez by a landslide on March 12, 2002. Sanchez polled 624,991 votes (60.99 percent) to Morales' 336,102 votes (32.80 percent).
Guilty plea and sentencing
In October 2003, Morales reached a plea deal and admitted to having falsified documents in an attempt to give another lawyer a chunk of the state's tobacco settlement. Before the agreement, Morales had faced trial on twelve counts that included
conspiracy
A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...
and using political money for private purposes. Morales and a onetime law associate were indicted on federal charges of trying to fraudulently obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in attorney fees from a state settlement with tobacco companies.
Upon his plea of guilt, federal Judge
Sam Sparks
Sam Sparks (born 1939) is a senior United States district judge of the Austin Division of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.
Biography
After graduating from Austin High School as senior class president, Spark ...
said. "You've breached the very valuable trust the people of Texas gave you,"
Personal life
Morales and his ex-wife, Christine, have a son, Christian.
During their marriage he helped raise their son, his step-daughter, Shayne, and step-son, Greyson.