Edwin Leard Mechem (July 2, 1912 – November 27, 2002) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist from New Mexico. He served as the 15th, 17th, and 19th governor of New Mexico, the first person born in the 20th century to become the state's governor, as well as the first person born in New Mexico after statehood to ascend to the office. During his final term as governor, Mechem appointed himself as a United States Senator, pursuant to the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. During his tenure, he was one of five non-Southern Republicans in the Senate to vote against the Civil Rights Act 1964. He was defeated in his bid to keep his senate seat in the 1964 United States Senate election in New Mexico. He later served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico.
Edwin Leard Mechem
Born 1912 in Alamagordo, NM
Died 2002 in Albuquerque, NM
FJC ID: 1608
Career output and lasting influence
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 5/year
New Mexico District Court · 1970–2002New Mexico District Court · 1970–2002
Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.
- Gender
- Male
- Race
- White
Prior employment
- Private practice, Las Cruces, New Mexico1939–1942, 1945–1950, 1955–1956, 1959–1960, 1965–1970
- U.S. senator from New Mexico1962–1964
- New MexicoGovernor · 1951–1954, 1957–1958, 1961–1962
- New MexicoState representative · 1947–1948
Federal Bureau of Investigation, Little Rock, Arkansas, San Francisco, California, and San Antonio, TexasSpecial agent · 1942–1945
Appointments
1970–2002 · Appointed by Richard M. Nixon (Republican)Term ended: Death
Education
LL.B. · 1939