Law Office of Jerry Gonzalez

The Constitution of the United States was originally an imperfect document, created primarily to address inefficiencies in the Articles of Confederation and to create a more cohesive union from a disjointed and loose connection of states who often dealt with each other as one nation would deal with another nation. The new Constitution, however well it addressed problems of the Union as a whole, failed to include protections which we now know of as the Bill of Rights.

For some of the framers, these protections were inherent in the system of government they were creating. Under the concept that all power belonged to the people who then, through the Constitution, assigned certain, enumerated rights to the federal government for their own welfare, any rights not explicitly assigned to the government was reserved to the people or to the states. In other words, there was no need for a Bill of Rights. Since the passage of the Bill of Rights, which were aimed at the federal government, not the States, protection from government, particularly state and local governments, and indeed from society as a whole, became a problem that needed to be addressed. After the civil war, the passage of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution addressed some of these needs by asserting every individual’s right to due process and the equal protection of our laws. Congress, under its enumerated right to regulate commerce, eventually added to these rights by passing a series of civil rights laws, including several that protected people from mistreatment on the basis of their race, gender and other so-called “protected classes”.

It is this aspect of the U.S. Constitution, that is, the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment, specifically those rights dealing with the protection of insular minorities and the protection of those presumed to be innocent when charged by the government, that is the focus of my practice. Although I do occasionally take a medical malpractice or a personal injury claim, my focus, and the cases I am most interested in considering, are cases dealing with discrimination or mistreatment, either by government or employers or others in a position of power, especially those cases where such mistreatment has affected a large group of people.

I also accept criminal cases although most of my criminal work is by way of court appointment.

If you have such a case of discrimination or mistreatment and you want me to consider representing you, please send me an email.