About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

44 Stan. L. Rev. 1215 (1991-1992)
A Tribute to Justice Thurgood Marshall

handle is hein.journals/stflr44 and id is 1231 raw text is: A Tribute to Justice Thurgood Marshall Byron R. White* I appreciate the opportunity to contribute a few words in tribute to Thurgood Marshall, whose life as a lawyer before becoming a judge loomed so large in a vastly important struggle that has been waged in this country, a struggle that is far from over, and, until Congress weighed in, a struggle that was played out almost entirely in the courts. Thurgood Marshall spent years and years on the firing line, in lower and appellate courts, arguing important cases in the Supreme Court both before and after Brown v. Board of Educa- tion.1 His life as a private lawyer belies the suggestion that individual attor- neys working in the private sector cannot make a profound difference in the direction of the law. All of us should be very grateful to Thurgood for what he accomplished in those years. There is no doubt that had he never become a judge, he would still be remembered as one of the giants of the law. He would still have had statutes sculpted in his honor, libraries named after him, and images of him placed in stained-glass windows of cathedrals. In our letter to him upon his retirement we noted among other things: Everyone who sits on the Supreme Court will be remembered in the his- tory 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. Thurgood's years on the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit were productive, and it was no great surprise when he became Solicitor General and often took what to him was a familiar stance at the podium in our Court. At every oral argument, we pass around among ourselves the admis- sion papers of each lawyer as he or she argues. On these papers are the name and date of every oral argument in which the individual lawyer has previ- ously participated. When Thurgood appeared as Solicitor General, and he did so almost twenty times, one could not help being reminded of what a great role this man had played in the history of this country. And, by the way, he was an excellent Solicitor General. Thus it was that we knew him well when he came to our bench, though I doubt we were prepared for the impact his presence would have on all of us. While every new Justice makes the Court a somewhat different institution, * Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court 1. 347 U.S. 483 (1954). 1215

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most