Death of Justice Marshall

by Supreme Court of the United States

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

506 U.S. vii

Death of Justice Marshall

January 25, 1993

The Chief Justice said:

As we open this morning, I announce with sadness that our friend and colleague Thurgood Marshall, a former Justice of this Court, died yesterday, January 24, 1993, at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1908, Thurgood Marshall was the grandson of a Union soldier, his namesake, and a great-grandson of a slave. His father worked as a dining-car waiter and a chief steward at a segregated club, and early instilled in his son the urge to question the legal status of minorities in this country. His mother taught school for over three decades and devoted herself to her two sons while they were growing up. Justice Marshall worked his way through Lincoln University and excelled at Howard University Law School under the tutelage of Charles Houston.

After a brief period in solo practice in Baltimore, Justice Marshall joined the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, eventually becoming its special counsel and, later, its director. The most influential civil rights lawyer of this century, Justice Marshall designed and implemented the NAACP's legal strategy to eradicate racial discrimination in education, transportation, housing, and the voting booth. In [p. viii] courthouses across the country, he became the champion of equal opportunity for minorities. As an advocate, Justice Marshall won 29 cases before this Court, including the landmark Brown v. Board of Education.

He left the NAACP when President Kennedy appointed him to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1961. In 1965, President Johnson named him Solicitor General and, two years later, appointed him an Associate Justice of this Court.

Justice Marshall's contributions to constitutional law before his appointment to this Court were singular. These contributions alone would entitle him to a prominent place in American history had he never served on this Court. Building on those earlier accomplishments, he became an important voice in shaping the decisional law during his twenty-four years on the Supreme Court bench.

The members of this Court will miss Justice Marshall's wit, warmth and charm, and I speak for them in expressing our profound sympathy to Mrs. Marshall, her sons Thurgood and John, the remainder of the Marshall family, and all those whose lives were touched by this extraordinary man. The recess this Court takes today will be in his memory. At an appropriate time, the traditional memorial observance of the Court and the Bar of the Court will be held in this Courtroom.