Dean Johnson, Professor Pérez Write About Justice Cruz Reynoso in UCLA Journal

Dean Kevin R. Johnson and Professor Amagda Pérez ’91 co-wrote the article “Cruz Reynoso’s Fight for Justice” for a UCLA Chicanx-Latinx Law Review special issue devoted to the late California State Supreme Court justice and UC Davis Law professor, who died in 2021 at age 90.

The article “considers Cruz Reynoso’s pioneering legal career marked by an unswerving devotion to the struggle for justice for all,” Johnson and Pérez write. The special issue, based in part on the law review’s 2022 symposium focused on Reynoso’s legacy, includes contributions from Aida Maceo ’11 and Justice Reynoso’s son, attorney Len ReidReynoso '01. Professor Leticia Saucedo participated in a roundtable discussion at the 2022 symposium.

Reynoso served as the first Latino state Supreme Court justice before becoming a law professor. He was part of the UCLA School of Law faculty before arriving at UC Davis in 2001. Reynoso transitioned to emeritus status in 2006 but remained devoted to King Hall and the University of California for the rest of his life.

In September, California’s Judicial Council voted to rename the Court of Appeal in Santa Ana in honor of Reynoso, who was born to a farmworker family in then-rural Orange County.