Thelton Eugene Henderson (born November 28, 1933) is an inactive senior

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of California The United States District Court for the Northern District of California (in case citations, N.D. Cal.) is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, De ...

. He has played an important role in the field of civil rights as a lawyer, educator, and jurist.

Education and career

Born on November 28, 1933, in

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, Henderson received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in 1956. He received a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from the

UC Berkeley School of Law The University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Berkeley Law) is the Law school in the United States, law school of the University of California, Berkeley. The school was commonly referred to as "Boalt Hall" for many years, although it was ...

in 1962. He was in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

as a Corporal from 1956 to 1958. He was the first

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

attorney for the Civil Rights Division of the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

from 1962 to 1963. He was in private practice of law in

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

from 1964 to 1966. He was the Directing Attorney of the East Bayshore Neighborhood Legal Center in East Palo Alto, California from 1966 to 1969. He was an assistant dean at

Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (SLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Stanford University, a Private university, private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, Stanford Law had an acceptance rate of 6.28% i ...

from 1968 to 1977. He was in private practice of law in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, California from 1977 to 1980. He was an associate professor at the Golden Gate University School of Law from 1978 to 1980.

Notable service

Henderson was sent to the South to monitor local law enforcement for any civil rights abuses, a role that included investigating the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, which killed four girls. In this capacity, he became acquainted with

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

and other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement after winning over their initial skepticism of a government attorney.

Federal judicial service

Henderson was nominated by President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

on May 9, 1980, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Cecil F. Poole. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on June 26, 1980, and received his commission on June 30, 1980. He served as Chief Judge from 1990 to 1997. He assumed senior status on November 28, 1998. He took inactive senior status on August 11, 2017, meaning that while he remains a federal judge, he no longer hears cases or participates in the business of the court.

Notable cases

In the late 1980s, Henderson presided over a long-running case over the fishing industry's practice of snaring dolphins in its tuna nets. Environmental groups charged that millions of dolphins had drowned because of the industry's refusal to follow existing safety regulations. He rejected attempts by the Clinton and Bush administrations to relax legal standards on fishing practices and loosen

dolphin safe label Dolphin-safe labels are used to denote compliance with laws or policies designed to minimize dolphin fatalities during fishing for tuna destined for canning. Some labels impose stricter requirements than others. Dolphin-safe tuna labeling originat ...

ing on tuna. In 1982 Henderson overturned the conviction of Johnny Spain, the only member of The San Quentin Six convicted of

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

for the deaths of three California Correctional Peace Officers and two inmates in a

riot A riot or mob violence is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The p ...

and escape attempt led by

Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newto ...

member and Black Guerilla Family founder

George Jackson (Black Panther) George Lester Jackson (September 23, 1941 – August 21, 1971) was an American author, prisoner, and revolutionary. While serving an indeterminate sentence for stealing $71 at gunpoint from a gas station in 1960, Jackson became involved in the ...

. In a landmark 1995 civil rights case, Madrid v. Gomez, Henderson found the use of force and level of medical care at Pelican Bay State Prison unconstitutional. During its subsequent federal oversight process, Henderson was known to visit the prison personally. In a 1997 decision, he struck down Proposition 209, the anti-affirmative action California initiative, as unconstitutional, but the next year a three-judge Court of Appeals panel overturned his decision. In 2005, Henderson found that substandard medical care in the California prison system had violated prisoners' rights under the

Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Eighth Amendment (Amendment VIII) to the United States Constitution protects against imposing excessive bail, excessive fines, or cruel and unusual punishments. This amendment was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the ...

to be protected from

cruel and unusual punishment Cruel and unusual punishment is a phrase in common law describing punishment that is considered unacceptable due to the suffering, pain, or humiliation it inflicts on the person subjected to the sanction. The precise definition varies by jurisdi ...

and had led to unnecessary deaths in California prisons. In 2006 he appointed Robert Sillen as receiver to take over the health care system of the

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is the penal law enforcement agency of the government of California responsible for the operation of the California state prison and parole systems. Its headquarters are in Sacra ...

; he replaced Sillen with J. Clark Kelso in 2008.

Honors and recognition

Among his awards are the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary association, voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated acti ...

's Thurgood Marshall Award, the

State Bar of California The State Bar of California is an administrative division of the Supreme Court of California which licenses attorneys and regulates the practice of law in California. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law ...

's Bernard Witkin Medal, the Pearlstein Civil Rights Award from the Anti-Defamation League, the Distinguished Service Award by the

National Bar Association The National Bar Association (NBA) was founded in 1925 and is the nation's oldest and largest national network of predominantly African Americans, African-American attorneys and judges. It represents the interests of approximately 67,000 lawyers, ...

, the Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Award for Professionalism and Ethics from the

American Inns of Court American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

, the Judge Learned Hand Award from the

American Jewish Committee The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a civil rights group and Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the wi ...

and the 2008 Alumnus of the Year Award from the California Alumni Association at the

. The Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice at

Boalt Hall The University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Berkeley Law) is the law school of the University of California, Berkeley. The school was commonly referred to as "Boalt Hall" for many years, although it was never the official name. This cam ...

is named for him. A documentary on his life, ''Soul of Justice'' by Abby Ginzberg, was released in late 2005. In 2024 he was inducted into the

California Hall of Fame The California Hall of Fame is an institution created in 2006 by Maria Shriver to honor important Californians. The award was designed by Californian artists Robert Graham (sculptor), Robert Graham. The hall is located in The California Museum i ...

References

External links

*
Marijuana Scheduling Finally Gets Day in Court

San Francisco Chronicle article

Soul of Justice: Thelton Henderson's American Journey

Civil Rights Pioneer, Federal Judge, Biopic Subject, and Alumnus of the Year

Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice
*
The Honorable Thelton E. Henderson: Making a Difference, The Federal Judiciary and Civil Rights in the United States, 1933-2002
" Interviews conducted by Leah McGarrigle, 2001–2002
Northern California U.S. District Court Oral History Series
Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Thelton Eugene 1933 births Living people African-American judges American civil rights lawyers California lawyers University of California, Berkeley alumni UC Berkeley School of Law alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California United States district court judges appointed by Jimmy Carter United States Department of Justice lawyers Golden Gate University faculty United States Army non-commissioned officers 21st-century American judges