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RETIREMENT OF JUSTICE MARSHALL
Everyone who sits on the Supreme Court will be remembered in the history of American constitutional law, but you are unique in having made major contributions to that law before becoming a member of the Court. Your role in the battle for equal treatment of the races would entitle you to a prominent place in that history had you never ascended the bench at all. You leave behind you landmarks from your career as a lawyer, as well as from your career as a judge. We bid you farewell from our common labors, but look forward to your continued society off the bench. We trust that retirement at this time will help you regain the good health which is our wish for you. Affectionately, William H. Rehnquist Byron R. White Harry A. Blackmun John Paul Stevens Sandra O’Connor Antonin Scalia Anthony M. Kennedy David H. Souter
Justice Marshall said: Supreme Court of the United States Chambers of Justice Thurgood Marshall (Retired), Washington, D. C., October 1, 1991. Dear Colleagues: Thank you for your gracious letter. As I read it, I was reminded of the wonderful times we have spent together both personally and professionally over the years. It has been a great honor for me to serve on the Court, and I am saddened that I must now give up the daily fare—the oral arguments, the Conference discussions, the opinions and dissents—that has provided me such enormous intellectual and emotional satisfaction for 24 years.
