With the help of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF), MALDEF got a $2.2 million grant from the Ford Foundation.

Demetrio Rodriguez et al. v. San Antonio Independent School District was a defeat, with the court ruling against equal financing of education.

MALDEF has set up an education-litigation project, filed on behalf of undocumented parents' children barred from public schools.

In Plyler v. Doe, the Supreme Court held these children protected by the due-process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The Border Region Higher Education Council helped pass the legislation and monitored the program's progress.

[citation needed] In 1974, president of MALDEF, Vilma Martinez, created the Chicana Rights Project (CRP).

The New York Times described it as "the most important voting rights case of the decade, rejecting the statewide gerrymandering claim brought by...other plaintiffs while accepting the Voting Rights Act challenge in Southwestern Texas, brought by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.