I plan to celebrate the bicentennial of the Constitution as a living document, including the Bill of Rights and the other amendments protecting individual freedoms and human rights. [14]:336 Dissenting in Dandridge v. Williams, a case in which the majority upheld Maryland's $250-a-month cap on welfare payments against claims that it was insufficient for large families, he argued that rational basis review was not appropriate in cases involving "the literally vital interests of a powerless minority". Earth's shifting magnetic poles don't cause climate change, This ancient society tried to stop El Niowith child sacrifice, The bloody reigns of these Roman kings sparked a revolution, How Oppenheimer guarded WWIIs biggest secret, Step inside an ancient mummification workshop, At long last, the American buffalo has come home. Thirty-two Republicans and thirty-seven Democrats voted to confirm Marshall; one Republican (Thurmond) and ten Southern Democrats voted against him. [1]:286 He favored a strict interpretation of the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement and opposed rulings that made exceptions to that provision;[22]:112 in United States v. Ross, for instance, he indignantly dissented when the Court upheld a conviction that was based on evidence discovered during a warrantless search of containers that had been found in an automobile. Though Marshall continued to litigate civil rights cases, he was exhausted by the vehemence of states resistance to integration. During his barrier-breaking years on the Supreme Court, Marshall continued to advocate for civil and human rights. 1954: Wins Brown vs. Board of Education case, the landmark action that ends the legal segregation of schools in America. [1]:210, Marshall consistently sided with the Supreme Court's liberal bloc. "[10]:195196 On May 17, 1954, after internal disagreements and a 1953 reargument, the Supreme Court handed down its unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education, holding in an opinion by Chief Justice Earl Warren that: "in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. State graduate and professional schools were the starting point as it was easier to demonstrate there were no comparable alternatives for Black students to receive the specialized education they offered. Vivian "Buster" Burey Marshall (February 11, 1911 - February 11, 1955) was an American civil rights activist and was married for 25 years, until her death, to Thurgood Marshall, lead counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, who also managed Brown v. Board of Education (1954). "[11]:175, According to Ball, Marshall felt that the rights protected by the First Amendment were the Constitution's most important principles and that they could be restricted only for extremely compelling reasons. Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. Justice Thurgood Marshall Profile He received his law degree from Howard University in 1933. [4]:237[6]:478 In the years following the Court's decision, Marshall coordinated challenges to Virginia's "massive resistance" to Brown, and he returned to the Court to successfully argue Cooper v. Aaron (1958), involving Little Rock's attempt to delay integration. Good Counsel: How Thurgood Marshall Inspired Me Thurgood Marshall poses in his New York residence on September 11, 1962, after the Senate confirmation of his nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals. MOSLEY: How did growing up in New Haven, Conn., more specifically, also impact Motley's perception of race? [2]:145146, Marshall next turned to the issue of segregation in primary and secondary schools. He won 29 of the 32 cases he argued before the Supreme Court of the United . Timeline: Thurgood Marshall Tired of having his friends poke fun at his first name, he decided to try to improve the situation and, at the age of six, legally changed it to Thurgood. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. [4]:338, Marshall remained on the Supreme Court for nearly twenty-four years, serving until his retirement in 1991. Thurgood Marshall - Movie, Quotes & Facts As the Court became increasingly conservative, Marshall found himself dissenting in numerous cases regarding racial discrimination. [4]:59,61, Marshall started a law practice in Baltimore, but it was not financially successful, partially because he spent much of his time working for the benefit of the community. But it cannot build bridges. [4]:311, When Archibald Cox resigned, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Marshall to take his place as Solicitor Generalthe individual responsible for arguing before the Supreme Court on behalf of the federal government. But an increasingly conservative Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, a decision Marshall fought for the remainder of his time on the Supreme Court. Finally, in 1967, President Johnson appointed him to the U.S. Supreme Court. Together with Houston, Marshall participated in the casesMurray v. Maryland(1936) andMissouri ex rel Gaines v. Canada(1938). [11]:102103 Although Marshall's sliding-scale approach was never adopted by the Court as a whole, the legal scholar Susan Low Bloch comments that "his consistent criticism seems to have prodded the Court to somewhat greater flexibility". His approach to desegregation cases emphasized the use of sociological data to show that segregation was inherently unequal. [11]:9192 Marshall felt that affirmative action was both necessary and constitutional;[1]:257 in an opinion in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, he commented that it was "more than a little ironic that, after several hundred years of class-based discrimination against Negroes, the Court is unwilling to hold that a class-based remedy for that discrimination is permissible". Thurgood Marshall | Biography, Legal Career, & Supreme Court Tenure "[1]:379, President George H. W. Bush (whom Marshall loathed) nominated Clarence Thomas, a conservative who had served in the Reagan and Bush administrations, to replace Marshall. How Berlin is breathing new life into old landmarks, Explore 3,000-year-old hiking trails on this remarkable Greek island, Maine's mountains and lakes offer space to pause and wonder. [11]:25 For Johnson, who had long desired to nominate a non-white justice, the choice of a nominee to fill the ensuing vacancy "was as easy as it was obvious", according to the scholar Henry J. Thurgood Marshall knew segregation firsthand. Among his first legal victories was Murray v. Pearson (1935), a suit accusing the University of Maryland of violating the Fourteenth Amendments guarantee of equal protection of the laws by denying an African American applicant admission to its law school solely on the basis of race. This is the untold truth of Thurgood Marshall. [22]:112 In cases involving the Sixth Amendment, he argued that defendants must have competent attorneys; dissenting in Strickland v. Washington, Marshall (parting ways with Brennan) rejected the majority's conclusion that defendants must prove prejudice in ineffective assistance of counsel cases. In his dissenting opinions he emphasized individual rights, fundamental fairness, equal opportunity and protection under the law, the supremacy of the Constitution as the embodiment of rights and privileges, and the Supreme Court's responsibility to play a significant role in giving meaning to the notion of constitutional rights. Nor do I find the wisdom, foresight, and sense of justice exhibited by the framers particularly profound. Marshalls appointment also opened the door for women and other people of color to sit on the bench. Where did Thurgood Marshall live most of his life? Here's why filling a Supreme Court vacancy in an election year is so complicated. In his dissent to Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, a 1978 case in which the Court ruled against the universitys use of affirmative action racial quotas in its admissions process, Marshall included a litany of statistics on the social and health disparities faced by Black Americans. [2]:37 Following legal cases was one of William's hobbies, and Thurgood oftentimes went to court with him to observe the proceedings. The Untold Truth Of Thurgood Marshall Williams traces a young Thurgood Marshall who grew up in Maryland and was mostly uninfected by the segregation system that he would come to challenge. And his quick wit and charm won over allies and enemies alike. Photo: Getty Images (1908-1993) Who Was Thurgood Marshall? (Why the Supreme Court has only nine justices.). In 1936 Marshall became a staff lawyer under Houston for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); in 1938 he became the lead chair in the legal office of the NAACP, and two years later he was named chief of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. 3 Did Thurgood Marshall live in New York? 4 When did Thurgood Marshall live? [1]:356 He joined the majority in Eisenstadt v. Baird to strike down a statute that prohibited the distribution or sale of contraceptives to unmarried persons, dissented when the Court in Bowers v. Hardwick upheld an anti-sodomy law, and dissented from the majority's decision in Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health that the Constitution did not protect an unconditional right to die. I'm getting old and coming apart! In September 1961 Marshall was nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit by President John F. Kennedy, but opposition from Southern senators delayed his confirmation for several months. [8]:598 He and W. J. Durham wrote the brief in Smith v. Allwright (1944), in which the Court ruled the white primary unconstitutional, and he successfully argued both Morgan v. Virginia (1946), involving segregation on interstate buses, and a companion case to Shelley v. Kraemer (1948), involving racially restrictive covenants. Croson Co., he rejected the majority's decision to strike down an affirmative-action program for government contractors, stating that he did "not believe that this Nation is anywhere close to eradicating racial discrimination or its vestiges". The landmark case combined five NAACP-sponsored complaints from across the country, all filed by parents of Black children who had been forced to attend segregated schools. [2]:240241 Marshall's dissents indicated that he favored broader interpretations of constitutional protections than did his colleagues. He argued 32 cases before the Supreme Court, winning 29 of them, and participated in hundreds of other cases in lower courts nationwide. Since there was no comparable law school for Black students in Maryland, Marshall argued, the all-white school must integrate. [5]:1502 Marshall helped to try the South Carolina case. In a race against time and the enemy, J. Robert Oppenheimer helped lead the U.S. effort to build the atomic bomb. [14]:339 He disagreed with the notion (favored by some of his conservative colleagues) that the Constitution should be interpreted according to the Founders' original understandings;[19]:382 in a 1987 speech commemorating the Constitution's bicentennial, he said:[20]:2,5. His surprise departure, rather than staying on for a lifetime appointment, was seen by many as evidence of his frustration with the institutions increasing conservatism. Updates? [3]:41,45 The family moved to New York City in search of better employment opportunities not long after Thurgood's birth; they returned to Baltimore when he was six years old. [1]:401 He was a member of the unanimous majority in United States v. Nixon that rejected President Nixon's claims of absolute executive privilege. Clarence Thomas Thurgood Marshall In the process, he traveled between 50,000 and 75,000 miles a year, crisscrossing the nation to oversee as many as 450 cases at a time. As heat waves become increasingly common, veterinarians call for extra vigilance. Thurgood Marshall Marshall had always felt that the only way for African-Americans, or anyone for that matter, to succeed was to receive an education. The Legal Eagle After graduating from Howard, one of Marshall's first legal cases was against the University of Maryland Law School in the 1935 case Murray v. Pearson. [2]:43 The mischievous Marshall was suspended for two weeks in the wake of a hazing incident, but he earned good grades in his classes and led the school's debating team to numerous victories. As an attorney, he successfully argued before the Court the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), which declared unconstitutional racial segregation in American public schools. In his early years on the bench, he fit comfortably among a liberal majority under the leadership of Chief Justice Earl Warren. When Houston returned to private practice in 1938, Marshall took over the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and arguedSweat v. Painter(1950) andMcLaurin v. Oklahoma Board of Regents of Higher Education(1950). Growing up in an era when Jim Crow laws still permeated much of the country, Marshall knew that many African-Americans were not enjoying all of their constitutional rights. From an early age, Marshall was aware of racial injustices in America, and he decided to do something about them. Question: How many places did Thurgood Marshall live in? As a civil rights attorney, he won a landmark case to end segregation in public schoolsthen fought to uphold those gains through dissent on a changing Court. Which one of these spiders is a black widow? [2]:9293 After Missouri courts rejected Gaines's claims, Houstonjoined by Marshall, who helped to prepare the briefsought review in the U.S. Supreme Court. He died in 1993. [4]:396, Marshall lay in repose in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court,[29]:159 and thousands thronged there to pay their respects;[6]:480 more than four thousand attended his funeral service at the National Cathedral. A staunch liberal, he frequently dissented as the Court became increasingly conservative. Marshall ardently opposed capital punishment, helping strike down the death penalty in Furman v. Georgia in 1972. In 1934, Houston joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as its first special counsel with a mission: To help end educational discrimination in the United States. Tired of having his friends poke fun at his first name, he decided to try to improve the situation and, at the age of six, legally changed it to Thurgood. I do not believe that the meaning of the Constitution was forever "fixed" at the Philadelphia Convention. [4]:397 The civil rights leader Vernon E. Jordan said that Marshall had "demonstrat[ed] that the law could be an instrument of liberation", while Chief Justice William Rehnquist gave a eulogy in which he said: "Inscribed above the front entrance to the Supreme Court building are the words 'Equal justice under law'. [1]:343346 On the issue of the free exercise of religion, Marshall voted with the majority in Wisconsin v. Yoder to hold that a school attendance law could not be constitutionally applied to the Amish, and he joined Justice Harry Blackmun's dissent when the Court in Employment Division v. Smith upheld a restriction on religious uses of peyote and curtailed Sherbert v. Verner's strict scrutiny standard. v. Mosley that "above all else, the First Amendment means that government has no power to restrict expression because of its messages, its ideas, its subject matter, or its content". Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary Heres what you need to know. 1920. In 1936 Marshall went to work for the NAACP full-time. Where did Thurgood Marshall join the Supreme Court? In the early 1950s, Marshall served as lead attorney in what turned out to be the most momentous civil rights lawsuit of the era, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. [1]:323324 He emphasized equality in his free speech opinions, writing in Chicago Police Dept. 1632 Division St Baltimore, Maryland 21217 Thurgood Marshall, the nation's first African American U.S. Supreme Court Justice, was born in 1908 and grew up in Old West Baltimore, attended segregated public schools, and during his teenage years worked in a Pennsylvania Avenue hat shop. [5]:1514 According to Tushnet, Marshall was "the Court's liberal specialist in Native American law"; he endeavored to protect Native Americans from regulatory action on the part of the states. Over the years, Marshall became the face of civil rights litigation. [2]:259261, In February 1967, Johnson nominated Ramsey Clark to be Attorney General. Thurgood Marshall Timeline Marshall, Thurgood. [38], Criminal procedure and capital punishment. Having won these cases, and thus, establishing precedents for chipping away Jim Crow laws in higher education, Marshall succeeded in having the Supreme Court declare segregated public schools unconstitutional inBrown v. Board of Education(1954). From this point on, Marshall and Houston were dedicated to a strategy which aimed at ending segregation. [15]:2109 Marshall's closest colleague and friend on the Court was Brennan,[1]:210211 and the two justices agreed so often that their clerks privately referred to them as "Justice Brennanmarshall". He also supported womens reproductive rights in the landmark 1973 case, Roe v. Wade. Since he paved the way, there has been at least one person of color on the Supreme Courtalthough only three Supreme Court justices in historyMarshall, Thomas, and Sonia Sotomayorhave been non-white. Article III establishes the judicial branch of government and the Bill of Rights lists the rights that all American citizens are supposed to enjoy. "[1]:317 In Amalgamated Food Employees Union Local 400 v. Logan Valley Plaza, he wrote for the Court that protesters had the right to picket on private property that was open to the publica decision that was effectively overruled (over Marshall's dissent) four years later in Lloyd Corporation v. Today, Marshall is remembered as one of the United States greatest legal minds and an unwavering force for equality under the law. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The purpose of this site is to provide information from and about the Judicial Branch of the U.S. Government. [2]:94[7]:70 They did not challenge the Court's decision in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which had accepted the "separate but equal" doctrine; instead, they argued that Gaines had been denied an equal education. [4]:337 On August 30, after six hours of debate, senators voted 6911[b] to confirm Marshall to the Supreme Court. [7]:70, Houston returned to Washington in 1938, and Marshall assumed his position as special counsel the following year. Until his retirement from the Court in 1991, Marshall continued to strive to protect the rights of all citizens. "[9]:151[11]:25, The public received the nomination favorably, and Marshall was praised by prominent senators from both parties. [14]:335 For the Court, he reversed the conviction of a Georgia man charged with possessing pornography, writing: "If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a State has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his own house, what books he may read or what films he may watch. Thurgood Marshall may have been inspired to become a lawyer after pulling a prank in high school. "[31] Marshall was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Solicitor General. [3]:101,103 They remained married until her death from cancer in 1955. Rulings like Murray v. Pearson forced states to admit Black students to white institutions rather than take on the cost of creating comparable, Black-only facilities. A major figure in American public life for a half-century, he was 84 years old. Thurgood Marshall Biography - life, family, parents, name, story, death [11]:10, Even after his recess appointment, Southern senators continued to delay Marshall's full confirmation for more than eight months. [34]:129,132 Scholars of the Supreme Court have not rated Marshall as highly as some of his colleagues: although his preSupreme Court legal career and his staunch liberalism have met with broad approval, a perception that he lacked substantial influence over his fellow justices has harmed his reputation. Marshall was originally named "Thoroughgood" (his paternal grandfather's name), but he changed it to the briefer "Thurgood" when he was in the second grade. Discover what original jurisdiction and appellate jurisdiction mean, and read about examples of each. This civil rights leader volunteered to challenge segregation in higher education. He participated in numerous landmark Supreme Court cases involving civil rights, including Smith v. Allwright, Morgan v. Virginia, Shelley v. Kraemer, McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents, Sweatt v. Painter, Brown, and Cooper v. Aaron.