How Do You Feel about Writing Dissents: Thurgood Marshall's Dissenting Vision for America
![handle is hein.journals/jspcth42 and id is 77 raw text is:
How Do You Feel About Writing
Dissents? Thurgood Marshall's
Dissenting Vision for America
CHARLES L. ZELDEN
On October 2, 1967, with his family,
friends, and admirers and President of the
United States Lyndon B. Johnson in atten-
dance, Thurgood Marshall stood up in the
chamber of the Supreme Court of the United
States, put his hand on a Bible, and swore to
administer justice without respect to persons,
... [to] do equal right to the poor and to the
rich, and that [he would] faithfully and
impartially discharge and perform all the
duties incumbent upon [him] . . . under the
Constitution and laws of the United States.
With these words, Marshall became the
nation's newest, and first African American,
Associate Justice ofthe United States Supreme
Court. A clearly emotional Marshall confessed
at the time how he wished his daddy could
have been there. Still, Marshall added, he just
knew that his father was on some street corner
in heaven shaking his finger and saying, 'I
knew my boy would do it.
Without doubt, this was one of Marshall's
proudest days. Only his victory as a lawyer in
Brown v. Board of Education (1954) came
close to generating in him the feelings of
accomplishment and professional vindication
brought by his elevation to the Supreme Court.
Marshall's ascent to the peak of the legal
profession filled him with a profound feeling
of satisfaction. As he later explained to
biographer Carl T. Rowan, How did I feel?
Hell, like any other lawyer in America would
feel. Real proud-because there is no greater
honor a lawyer can get. I felt especially great
because I knew President Johnson was using
me to say something important to the nation.2
Marshall's feelings of pride and achieve-
ment did not last, however. As the ideological
makeup of the Court and the political culture
of the nation shifted over time to the right,
Marshall increasingly became isolated from,
and then marginalized by, his fellow Justices;
with each passing year, a frustrated, angry, and
often bitter Marshall saw the landmarks of his
life's work-the social, political, economic,
and constitutional changes that he had helped](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/jspcth42&div=10&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
How Do You Feel about Writing Dissents: Thurgood Marshall's Dissenting Vision for America
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most