Tony Rackauckas has often been referred to as the “no-nonsense DA” by national talk show hosts, colleagues, and citizens. His passion and motivation for his job stem from the patriotism and philanthropy he learned as a child growing up in a military family with his roots in East Los Angeles.
Tony is the second born of six children (three sisters and two brothers) to Maria Socorro Limón and Anthony Joseph Rackauckas. On his mother’s side, Tony is the second generation to be born and raised in the United States. His maternal grandparents, Alejandro and Carolina Limón, immigrated to the United States from Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico around 1921 and settled in Arizona looking for a new life and to start a family. Alejandro Limón was a hard-working man who provided for his family and instilled a strong work ethic in his children.
In the late 1930s, Maria met Anthony, a Naval Officer, whose family immigrated from Lithuania. They married in March of 1940. Tony was born three years later on March 18, 1943 and spoke mostly Spanish for the first three years of his life.
“I have always wanted to serve the public,” states Tony. “I think it comes from my father. That is what I believe is important in life, and the people I have looked up to have been those who served others.”
Tony’s father, Anthony, spent 20 years in the U.S. Navy, rising to the rank of Chief. When he was 19-years-old, Tony followed in his father’s footsteps and enlisted in the U.S. Army as a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and served on active duty from 1962 to1964. He remained in the U.S. Army Reserves for four more years before receiving an Honorable Discharge.
After his active duty in the Army, Tony enrolled at California State University, Long Beach and took college courses during the day while working nights to help support his family. He studied Political Science and went on to earn his Juris Doctor degree from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles in 1971.
From 1968 to 1972, Tony worked as a social worker in the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services, where he was selected as one of four social workers to implement and run a successful pilot program that assisted unemployed fathers of families receiving welfare in gaining employment. The program continues to be successful and utilized statewide.
In 1972, Tony moved south and joined the Orange County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA). Tony understands what it takes to be a line prosecutor. Over the next 15 years as a deputy district attorney, he tried over 40 homicide cases and well over 100 felony trials, including rape, robbery, arson, assault, burglary, fraud, narcotics, and child molestations.
After briefly working in private practice, Tony was appointed Municipal Court Judge in 1990 by Governor George Deukmejian. Three years later, Governor Pete Wilson appointed him to the Superior Court, and by 1996 he was the Presiding Judge of the Appellate Department of the Superior Court.
In 1998, Tony ran for OCDA and was overwhelmingly elected to the post by the people of Orange County. He won the June 1998 election by 23 points over his opponent, becoming the first person outside the District Attorney's Office to be elected Orange County District Attorney in more than 40 years. He was re-elected in March 2002 by 22 points. In June of 2006, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas was reelected to his third term with 100 percent of the vote running unopposed.
