Thelton Henderson | |
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| Senior Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Northern District of California | |
| Assumed office November 28, 1998 | |
| Chief Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Northern District of California | |
| In office 1990–1997 | |
| Preceded by | William Austin Ingram |
| Succeeded by | Marilyn Hall Patel |
| Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Northern District of California | |
| In office June 30, 1980 – November 28, 1998 | |
| Appointed by | Jimmy Carter |
| Preceded by | Cecil F. Poole |
| Succeeded by | William Alsup |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Thelton Eugene Henderson (1933-11-28)November 28, 1933 (age 91) Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Education | University of California, Berkeley (BA,JD) |
Thelton Eugene Henderson (born November 28, 1933) is aninactive seniorUnited States district judge of theUnited States District Court for the Northern District of California. He has played an important role in the field of civil rights as a lawyer, educator, and jurist.[1]
Born on November 28, 1933, inShreveport,Louisiana,[2] Henderson received aBachelor of Arts degree from theUniversity of California, Berkeley in 1956. He was in theUnited States Army as a Corporal from 1956 to 1958. He received aJuris Doctor from theUC Berkeley School of Law in 1962. At Berkeley he participated in theAfro-American Association, a study group.[3] He was the firstAfrican-American attorney for theCivil Rights Division of theUnited States Department of Justice from 1962 to 1963. He was in private practice of law inOakland,California from 1964 to 1966. He was the Directing Attorney of the East Bayshore Neighborhood Legal Center inEast Palo Alto, California from 1966 to 1969. He was an assistant dean atStanford Law School from 1968 to 1977. He was in private practice of law inSan Francisco, California from 1977 to 1980. He was an associate professor at theGolden Gate University School of Law from 1978 to 1980.[4]
Henderson was sent to the South to monitor local law enforcement for any civil rights abuses, a role that included investigating the 196316th Street Baptist Church bombing, which killed four girls. In this capacity, he became acquainted withMartin Luther King Jr. and other leaders of theCivil Rights Movement after winning over their initial skepticism of a government attorney.[5]
Henderson was nominated by PresidentJimmy Carter on May 9, 1980, to a seat on theUnited States District Court for the Northern District of California vacated by JudgeCecil F. Poole. He was confirmed by theUnited States Senate on June 26, 1980, and received his commission on June 30, 1980. He served as Chief Judge from 1990 to 1997. He assumedsenior status on November 28, 1998.[4] 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.[6]
In the late 1980s, Henderson presided over a long-running case over the fishing industry's practice ofsnaring 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 loosendolphin safe labeling on tuna.
In 1982 Henderson overturned the conviction of Johnny Spain, the only member of TheSan Quentin Six convicted ofmurder for the deaths of three California Correctional Peace Officers and two inmates in ariot and escape attempt led byBlack Panther Party member andBlack Guerilla Family founderGeorge Jackson (Black Panther). In a landmark 1995 civil rights case, Madrid v. Gomez, Henderson found the use of force and level of medical care atPelican Bay State Prison unconstitutional. During its subsequent federal oversight process, Henderson was known to visit the prison personally.
In a 1997 decision, he struck downProposition 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 theEighth Amendment to the United States Constitution to be protected fromcruel and unusual punishment and had led to unnecessary deaths in California prisons.[7][8]
In 2006 he appointed Robert Sillen asreceiver to take over the health care system of theCalifornia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; he replaced Sillen with J. Clark Kelso in 2008.[9]
Among his awards are theAmerican Bar Association's Thurgood Marshall Award, theState Bar of California'sBernard Witkin Medal, thePearlstein Civil Rights Award from theAnti-Defamation League, the Distinguished Service Award by theNational Bar Association, theLewis F. Powell, Jr. Award for Professionalism and Ethics from theAmerican Inns of Court, the Judge Learned Hand Award from theAmerican Jewish Committee and the 2008 Alumnus of the Year Award from the California Alumni Association at theUniversity of California, Berkeley. TheThelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice atBoalt Hall is named for him. A documentary on his life,Soul of Justice byAbby Ginzberg, was released in late 2005. In 2024 he was inducted into theCalifornia Hall of Fame.[10]
In July, 2025, theUniversity of California at Berkeley announced that it was using a $6 million gift to establish the Thelton E. Henderson ’62 Chair in Civil Rights Law.[11]
| Legal offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Northern District of California 1980–1998 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chief Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Northern District of California 1990–1997 | Succeeded by |
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| National | |
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