Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall - the Architect of Racial Relations in the US - Essay Example

Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall Introduction Justice Thurgood Marshall was one of the leading American justices who brought change in the 20th century. Born on 2nd July 1908 in Maryland, he started appreciating the United States Constitution in his youthful years. In his early age, obedience of the rule of law was his core value. On June 13, 1967, Thurgood Marshall became the first African American to be appointed to the Supreme Court where he served as an Associate Justice for twenty four years until his retirement from ailing health on June 27, 1991. Prior to the appointment to the Supreme Court, he had served for as a private practice attorney, director of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People director of legal defense and education fund and later in public service as the Circuit Court Judge and U.S Solicitor General (Bland 10). Education and Life history Thurgood Marshall was born on July 2, 1908 as the younger brother of two sons of William Marshall and Norma Marshall. His father was a porter and later a steward at whites-only country club. His mother worked as a public school teacher for more than twenty five years. His father instilled core values like obedience of the rule of law and the United States constitution. Immediately after completing his high school studies, he accompanied his brother at Lincoln University in Chester County which was dominated by black people. Some of his classmates were Cab Calloway was a musician, author Langston Hughes and Kwame Nkrumah who later became the president of Ghana. He married Vivian Burey before his graduation and the two lived together before the death of his wife in 1955 from cancer (Bland 17). In the year 1930, he applied for admission to University of Maryland law school but was denied admission since he was black. This event haunted him much but shaped his future professional life. Thurgood did not give up but sought admission to study law at Howard University Law School where he was admitted the same year ((Bland 45). Charles Houston who was the dean of the law school by then inspired Thurgood to apply all the provisions of the US constitution to all the American citizens. His disapproval of 1898 Supreme Court ruling, Plessy V. Ferguson which established the “separate but equal doctrine” that barred black students from attending the same schools with white children made him successfully sue University of Maryland Law School to admit African American students. The decision by the court was popular since he had been denied the opportunity to attend the school despite being adequately prepared for his studies by four years hard work in a class A college (Bland 67). He established a small private practice law firm in Maryland and quickly earned a reputation as the lawyer of the “disadvantaged”. Later he became the Chief Counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). During the first two decades of his legal practice, he won twenty nine out of thirty two cases which he argued in the Supreme Court where most of them challenged the “separate but equal” doctrine (Bland 24). He established himself as a leading advocate of individual and civil rights (Bland 46). While working for NAACP, he was contacted by the United Nations and United Kingdom to help in drafting the constitutions of new African nations like Ghana and Tanzania. The United Nations believed that somebody who had fought for the rights of American minorities would be the best to ensure the rights of White citizens in the former colonies were also respected. Marshall was key player in the legal effort to end racial segregation in education, housing and voting (Bland 23). His career landmark as a litigator came in 1954 in the case of Brown v. Board of education of Topeka where he obtained victory by arguing that the “separate but equal” doctrine was unconstitutional and was aimed at entrenching black slavery. He retired from the Supreme Court in 1991 due to his ailing health and passed away on January 24, 1993 at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland. At the time of his retirement, he was scheduled to administer an oath of office to Vice President Gore on Wednesday but his ailing health prevented him from doing so (Bland 197). Tenure at the court and majority opinions In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed him to the US courts of appeal for the second circuit. In his tenure, he made many decisions supporting the rights of immigrants, rights to privacy. He also made decisions which limited the rights of the government to illegal searches and seizure of personal property. For instance, 98 of his majority and popular decisions where not reversed by the Supreme Court (Davis and Graham 116). He remained in that office for four years before he was appointed to the office of US solicitor General by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965 (Davis and Graham 116). He was nominated to the Supreme Court in 1967, a decision which was confirmed by the US senate by a record of 69-11 votes. He won majority of the cases which he argued before the Supreme Court on behalf of the government than any other Justice in the United States Supreme court (Paddock 312). He was the first African American to become a justice of the Supreme Court. In his tenure, he advocated for abortion rights and elimination of the death penalty which he termed as cruel and inhumane. His commitment was to ensure equality and equal treatment of all citizens by the Federal and State governments (Paddock 347). He made several majority opinions among them being the Amalgamated food employees union V, Logan valley plaza (1968) which he held that a shopping center was like a “public forum” which much as an old downtown city street; the private owners could not exclude picketers. In 1969, he also authored a majority opinion in the case of Stanley V. Georgia (1969), when he held that private possession of pornography could not be a subject of State prosecution hence the State could not dictate which films or books an individual could watch or read in his house. This decision sparked the legislation of the rights to privacy where the State agents could not interfere with the privacy of the citizens (Marshall and Smith 234). In 1977, he also made another landmark majority opinion inn the case of Bounds V. Smith (1977) where he held that State prison system had the obligation under the constitution to provide enough law libraries and adequate assistance from legal experts to inmates. He authored a dissenting opinion in the case of San Antonio School District v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S 1 (1973) where the majority of the court held that constitution guarantee of equal protection had not been violated by the property tax system in Texas to finance public education. The justice accused the majority for disregard for supporting a system which deprived children at the earliest years a chance to exploit their full potential as citizens (Marshall and Smith 272). His judicial philosophy He led many civil rights movements in the 20th century which altered the American social relations. Together with other anti-racists like Martin King Luther Jr and Malcolm X, they advocated for change in the American government racists policies. Though Malcolm X advocated for bloody overthrow of the racist segregation system, Thurgood used his judicial skills and knowledge of the US constitution to advocate for equality of treatment by the government to all the US citizens. It was him who won Supreme Court cases breaking racial segregation and ending the “separate but equal” doctrine which characterized American society for the first half of the 20th century (Dresser 66). The crucial legal case which Thurgood won was the Brown V. Board of Education of Topeka which ultimately ended the legal separation of the black and white children in public school system. His legal success against government racist policies sparked widespread civil rights movements (Dresser 69). Thurgood judicial philosophy was activist since his rulings reflected the contemporary society and values. His opinions were less political but more interpretive of the constitution which gave equal rights to all the American citizens. In the case of Brown, Thurgood argued the case against Board of Education though there was no existing law which he relied on. He argued the facts of the “separate but equal” doctrine which made the Supreme Court decide that the existing doctrine was wrong and the interpretation of the constitution was also wrong (Zalman 202). He was prominent member of the judicial liberal majority when he authored a majority opinion in the case of Grayned V. City of Rockford, 408 U.S (1972) which struck down anti-picketing ordinance that had been used against civil rights movement demonstrators. He believed that capital punishment violated the Eighth Amendment of the constitution and opposed the death penalty which he believed was applied discriminatively to the minorities (Zalman 256). His judicial philosophy was aimed at enforcing the fundamental human rights of all individuals including immigrants. He stated that state policies which were discriminatory should be subject to judicial scrutiny. He based his arguments on constitutional provisions and sociological appeals to end the gap between the constitutional ideology and racism which limited the African American freedoms and rights (Hensley, Hale and Snook 78). Impact of Thurgood on criminal procedure Thurgood greatly contributed to criminal procedure legislations in the US. In his tenure, he made significant accomplishments in the administrative of criminal justice. He improved the standards of criminal justice and consistently utilized his legal talent and administrative capabilities in dispensing justice even to the unpopular defendants. He dismantled the criminal procedures which disregarded free speech and the barriers to affirmative action (Dresser 83). While working for NAACP, he was a successful lawyer and won 27 out of 33 cases which he argued before the Supreme Court. Some of the widely recognized cases in Chambers V. Florida (1940) which he convinced the court to overturn criminal conviction based on coerced confession. In 1948, in the case of Shalley V. Kraemer (1948) he convinced the court to overturn the earlier decision of lower courts which favored restrictive covenants that prohibited sale of land to African Americans. The justice also dissented from a Rehnquist decision to permit admission of victim impact evidence in capital cases. In the case of personnel administrator of Massachusetts V. Feeney (1979) where the Supreme courts decision had granted rights to preference in the hiring of veterans than non-veterans, he challenged the law on the basis of fourteenth amendment of the constitution which contained an equal protection clause thus arguing the law was discriminatory to women since few were veterans (Hensley, Hale and Snook 98). Thurgood dissented on the earlier decision by the court that the law was constitutional. In the same case, he shifted the burden of proof from the individual to the state government. In the case of Oliphany V. Suquamish Indian tribe (1978), this brought on the floor of the U.S Supreme Court. The case dealt with criminal jurisdiction of tribal courts over non-Indians. The court decision stated that the Indian tribal courts did not have inherent criminal jurisdiction to try and punish the non-Indians. In dissenting decision, Thurgood argued that the right to punish all individuals who commit crimes against any tribal law is a matter of tribal sovereignty (Dresser 134). He stated that the tribal courts reserved the rights to punish all individuals who committed crimes within their jurisdiction (Hensley, Hale and Snook 124). In the case of Fordv. Wainwright (1989), he held that execution of mental retarded persons violated their rights since determining their guilty violated the due process of law (Scheb 14). Conclusion Thurgood can best be remembered as the architect of racial relations in the US. Thurgood ended racial segregation in US and won many legal suits ending the racial discrimination in housing, education, voting and public transport system. He won the landmark case of the century, Brown V. Board of Education which ended the legal segregation of black and white children in public schools. The legal victory sparked widespread civil rights movements which gave rise to the Middle African American class which was more empowered economically and politically. African American full citizenship can be directly traced to the work of Thurgood Marshall. Thurgood’s major legal opinions was a clear demonstration that legal discrimination had ended and what was left was to close the educational opportunity gaps between the Blacks and Whites which was the cause of the economic inequality in the American society. Works Cited: Bland, R. Justice Thurgood Marshall: crusader for liberalism (1908-1993. Bethesda. Academica Press. 2001. Davis, A and Graham, B. The Supreme Court, race and civil rights. New York. Thousand Oaks. 1995. Dresser, J. Understanding criminal procedure. New York. John Wiley. 2002. Hensley, T., Hale, K and Snook, C. The Rehnquist Court: justices, rulings and legacy. New York. Santa Barbara. 2006. Marshall, T and Smith, J. Supreme Justice: speeches and writings. Philadelphia. Pennsylvania. 2003. Paddock, L. Supreme court for dummies. New York. John Wiley. 2002. Scheb, J. Criminal procedure. New Jersey. Cengage Learning. 2012. Zalman, M. Criminal procedure: constitution and society. New York. Routledge. 2002.\ Read More