Rochelle Garza is an attorney from the Rio Grande Valley currently serving as President of the Texas Civil Rights Project, one of the most influential legal organizations dedicated to empowering Texas communities and creating policy changes in the state.

Rochelle has the honor to be appointed to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights by President Biden where she will serve as commissioner until 2028. The USCCR is the oldest independent and bipartisan commission in the U.S. created by the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

In 2022, Rochelle Garza became the democratic nominee for Texas Attorney General on a platform focused on voting rights, reproductive rights and government accountability. She was the first Latina to be nominated in Texas history to run for Attorney General by any major party.

Rochelle has spent her legal career fighting for the civil rights of children, immigrants and families and has expertise in immigration, family, criminal and constitutional law. Her work has had broad impacts on civil rights, including the “Garza Notice,” a federal requirement that ensures teens in immigration detention control their reproductive health care choices.

Rochelle graduated from the University of Houston Law Center and from Brown University with honors.