He was an attorney in private practice with the law firm of Clemens, Spencer, Welmaker & Fink in San Antonio between 1976 and 1986.

[1] On April 11, 1991, President George H. W. Bush nominated Garza to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated by Thomas Morrow Reavley, and he was confirmed by the Senate on May 24, 1991, receiving his commission on May 30, 1991.

In 2010, Garza joined Judges Edith Brown Clement and Priscilla Owen in affirming the dismissal of the complaint in Doe v. Silsbee Independent School District.

was a cheerleader who was ordered by her high school to cheer for her alleged rapist, a basketball player named Rakheem Bolton.

[3] Material on this page is taken or adapted from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Policy, and from the Fifth Circuit Library System of the United States Court of Appeals, both public domain sources.