Events
Joaquin Gonzalez
Practicing Faculty
Education
- J.D., Yale Law School, 2018
- B.Sc., University of London, 2015
Contact Information
License to Practice
- Texas
Specialties and Course
- Legal Research and Writing
- Election Law
Biography
Joaquin Gonzalez is a San Antonio native and civil litigator. Prior to joining the St. Mary’s faculty, he was the Senior Supervising Attorney in the Voting Rights Program at the Texas Civil Rights Project.
He has played a leading role in some of the most significant Texas voting rights cases in recent years. This includes halting an attempt to improperly purge nearly 100,000 naturalized citizens from the voter rolls and forcing Texas to fully comply with the federal motor voter law, which has led to over 2,000,000 voter registrations. He helped design Bexar County’s S.M.A.R.T. Elections initiative in 2020, which successfully expanded access and ensured safe and effective elections during the COVID pandemic.
One of Gonzalez’s focus areas has been redistricting. He has served as the redistricting counsel for the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, and recently argued a major Voting Rights Act case in front of the En Banc Fifth Circuit.
Prior to becoming an attorney, Gonzalez worked in policy and campaign positions for a number of state and local elected officials.
Publications
- Miguel Rivera, Joaquin Gonzalez, Sarah Chen, Report: A Review of Redistricting in Texas, Texas Civil Rights Project (2021), https://www.txcivilrights.org/_files/ugd/aab911_c285d6b647d84991b89352f49595841b.pdf.
- Joaquin Gonzalez, Secrecy, Lies, Exclusion: Why Texas Is One of the Most Gerrymandered States, TCRPMag (May 21, 2020), https://www.news.txcivilrights.org/post/secrecy-lies-exclusion-why-texas-is-one-of-the-most-gerrymandered-states.
- Rebecca Harrison Stevens, Meagan Taylor Harding, Joaquin Gonzalez, Emily Eby, Handcuffing the Vote: Diluting Minority Voting Power Through Prison Gerrymandering and Felon Disenfranchisement, 21 Scholar: St. Mary’s L. Rev. & Soc. Just. 195, 196 (2019).
- Joaquin Gonzalez, Fighting Back To Protect Student Voting Rights, 129 Yale L.J. Forum 258 (2019).
Media Highlights
- Jacqueline Thomsen, University Stress Tests Lawyers Ahead of Rare En Banc Arguments, BloombergLaw.com (May 15, 2024)
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/university-stress-tests-lawyers-ahead-of-rare-en-banc-arguments. - Ed Pilkington, Texas Voting Map Discriminates Against Black and Latino Residents, Judge Rules, The Guardian (Oct. 13, 2023), https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/13/texas-galveston-county-discrimination-electoral-map-ruling.
- Sarah Duran, Bexar County To Add More Polling Locations, Judge Rules, Kens5.com (Oct. 11, 2022), https://www.kens5.com/article/news/politics/elections/san-antonio-election-voting-locations-bexar-county/273-c64b4648-7cf9-4ed6-b311-2091684440ba.
- Facts First, Is Drive-thru Voting Not Permitted In Texas?, CNN.com (Nov. 2020), https://www.cnn.com/factsfirst/politics/factcheck_eba812b4-c46c-4355-b1ce-855b66aeac2a.
- Obed Manuel, Census Bureau Wants the Same Texas Driver’s License Data from Failed Voter Purge for Citizen Count, DallasMorningNews.com (Oct. 18, 2019), https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2019/10/18/census-bureau-wants-the-same-texas-drivers-license-data-from-failed-voter-purge-for-citizen-count.