Commission Chair (Former)
Professor of Education & Professor of Law,
The University of Texas at Austin, School of Law
Former Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights,
U.S. Department of Education, Austin, TX
POLITICAL AFFILIATION: DEMOCRAT
Term Ended: December 2022
Commissioner Norma V. Cantú, first Latina appointed to serve as Chair of the US Commission on Civil Rights, is the Ken McIntyre Professor of Excellence in Education and Professor of Law at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in education law and the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). Ms. Cantú joins the Commission with a distinguished record of public service, including as the Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights and the U.S. Representative to the Organization of American States Commission on the Child in the Clinton Administration, and most recently, as a member of the Biden-Harris Transition’s Agency Review Team for the U.S. Department of Education.