Justice Thurgood Marshall
Today’s Justice of the Day is: THURGOOD MARSHALL. Justice Marshall was born on this day, July 2, in 1908.
Justice Marshall was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. He went on to attend Lincoln University, graduating with an A.B. in 1930, and then Howard University School of Law, graduating with an LL.B. in 1933.
Justice Marshall entered private practice in his native Baltimore immediately after graduation from law school, and continued working privately until 1937. Concurrent with his brief career as a private attorney, he also served the NAACP’s Baltimore Regional Office, first as counsel, from 1934-1936, and then as special assistant counsel, from 1936 to 1938, one year after he had left private practice. Justice Marshall was appointed special counsel in that office in 1938, and he served in that capacity until 1940, when he was appointed Director/counsel of the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund. He became perhaps America’s most well-known African American attorney during this time thanks to his having spearheaded a highly effective strategy to rid the nation of institutionalized racial discrimination. Justice Marshall’s strategy called for first chipping away at many different forms of racial segregation in various smaller contexts, before finally seeking a single larger ruling to sweep away the last vestiges of racial segregation. His rise to fame was also in large part due to his role as chief counsel to the ultimately victorious appellants in the historic Brown v. Board of Education (I) (1954) case, which declared segregation in public schools on the basis of race unconstitutional. Justice Marshall left the NAACP in 1961 upon President John F. Kennedy's appointment (and later United States Senate confirmation) of him to be a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where he remained until his resignation to serve as Solicitor General of the United States from 1965 until his appointment to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Justice Marshall was nominated from the state of New York by President Lyndon B. Johnson on June 13, 1967, to a seat vacated by Justice Tom C. Clark. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 30, and received his commission that day. Justice Marshall took the Judicial Oath to officially join the SCUS on October 2, and served on the Warren, Burger and Rehnquist Courts. He assumed senior status on October 1, 1991, and his service was terminated on January 24, 1993, due to his death.
Justice Marshall is one of the most unambiguously liberal jurists to ever serve on the SCUS. He became especially well-known for his working relationship with Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., and they in turn are still recognized to this day for leaving an indelible mark on the Supreme Court. His retirement due to failing health, along with President George H.W. Bush’s decision to select Justice Clarence Thomas as his successor, has had a great impact on the SCUS, as it made possible much of the conservative counterrevolution that has been the hallmark of the Rehnquist and Roberts Courts.