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Thurgood Marshall Would Turn 100 Today

By Jeralyn, Section Supreme Court
Posted on Wed Jul 02, 2008 at 08:43:37 PM EST
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Via NPR, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the court's first African American Justice, would have turned 100 today.

Check out this clip -- billed as a "lost interview" between Marshall and Mike Wallace. Though it's undated, Marshall talks about Adam Clayton Powell's controversial support of Republican president Dwight Eisenhower and the Democratic Party's failure to act on segregation in the South.

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    Thurgood Marshall Would Turn 100 Today | 14 comments (14 topical)

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    A certain historic and poetic symmetry (5.00 / 0) (#1)
    by Redshoes on Wed Jul 02, 2008 at 10:04:42 PM EST
    I believe Susan Eisenhower has endorsed Obama

    As well as Julie Nixon Eisenhower (5.00 / 0) (#2)
    by Peter G on Wed Jul 02, 2008 at 10:17:41 PM EST
    Not only is Susan Eisenhower, a granddaughter of Ike, supporting Obama, but so is Nixon's daughter Julie, who is married to an Eisenhower grandson.

    Parent
    Back on topic (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by Redshoes on Wed Jul 02, 2008 at 10:48:41 PM EST
    TM remains among my favorites -- love the "tea kettle" line.  Would have loved to have been a picture on the wall back then -- Douglas, Brennan, Fortas, Marshall, such interesting times.  Anyone care to play Jotto!  Wow!  Fun to travel back.  Happy natal day.

    Thanks! (5.00 / 0) (#4)
    by Valhalla on Wed Jul 02, 2008 at 11:14:31 PM EST
    What a wonderful use of YouTube!

    This is just so cool.

    And... (5.00 / 2) (#5)
    by Valhalla on Wed Jul 02, 2008 at 11:21:18 PM EST
    I'm convinced.  I need Jotto.  Where can I get one?

    One of the greatest (5.00 / 0) (#7)
    by flyerhawk on Thu Jul 03, 2008 at 01:26:19 AM EST
    men in our history.  Not just because of his work as a Supreme Court justice but for his work as a civil rights lawyer.

    A Barack Obama Presidency would not be possible today if nor for Justice Marshall.

    just a note... (5.00 / 2) (#8)
    by p lukasiak on Thu Jul 03, 2008 at 06:50:21 AM EST
    based on Wallace's bulletin about the Phillies game, the interview took place on April 16, 1957, a day on which the phillies opening game was played at Connie Mack Stadium against the Brooklyn Dodgers -- which the Phillies lost 6-7

    http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/schedule.php?y=1957&t=PHI

    It should be noted that 1957 was the last year that the Dodgers played in Brooklyn, making this the only possible date for this interview.

    The April 57 date (none / 0) (#11)
    by brodie on Thu Jul 03, 2008 at 07:49:28 AM EST
    sounds very plausible.  

    Marshall rightly complained about inaction by the Dems in that clip, but relatively weak and toothless yet important Civ Rts legislation did pass Congress that year.  But that didn't happen until September.

    Parent

    Wow am I ever channeling Marshall! (none / 0) (#6)
    by Ellie on Thu Jul 03, 2008 at 12:51:29 AM EST
    Disappointed with the Dems, not down with Powell embracing the right, not sure whether a third party is viable this election and DAMN well not going to say /justify my vote to anyone.

    We need two justices at least as liberal as Thurgood Marshall to balance the hard conservatives Dems swipecarded onto the SCOTUS or they, and Obama don't deserve spit.

    What a legacy... (none / 0) (#9)
    by weltec2 on Thu Jul 03, 2008 at 07:22:42 AM EST
    Brown vs Board of Education - 1954, Browder vs Gayle - 1956 (This ended the bus strike led by MLK, Jr. after Rosa Parks was arrested.) These two cases alone argued successfully by a Black lawyer in the 50's... mind blowing. Just to be known for those two cases alone would be honor enough for anyone but Marshall continued to win major cases. And then elevated to the bench by Johnson in 1967.

    For all the complaints I've had about Johnson over the years, Hillary was right. Johnson did a lot for the Afro-American community. Thurgood Marshall's elevation to SCOTUS was certainly among those good things he did.

    Yes, credit Johnson* (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by brodie on Thu Jul 03, 2008 at 08:08:47 AM EST
    for elevating him.  But it was Kennedy in 61 who got the ball rolling by appointing him to the key judicial position on the 2d Cir Court of Appeals, traditionally the last stepping stone on the way to the Highest Court.

    Marshall had two Ct clerks who went on to their own small fame.  Doug Ginsburg, nominated by RR but knocked out when it was revealed that he'd smoked marijuana a time or two (horrors!) while on the law school faculty.  And Cass Sunstein, an Obama advisor and potential Court pick, though CS would later reject Marshall's brand of liberal Ct activism.

    *Johnson screwed things up mightily though for the liberal and civil rights cause when he schemed to get Kennedy's appointee Arthur Goldberg to step down to take UN Amb (a most peculiar acceptance of what is clearly a demotion by AG) so that Lyndon could name his crony Abe Fortas to the bench.  We were deprived of 20 or so yrs of a solidly liberal and strong pro-labor and pro-right of privacy voice on the Ct in Goldburg, but instead we ended up with only 3-4 yrs of Fortas, who stepped down in 69 after some public controversies erupted over his failed nomination to succeed Chief Justice Warren.

    Parent

    Great find! (none / 0) (#10)
    by kempis on Thu Jul 03, 2008 at 07:35:52 AM EST
    Thank you for posting this....

    Boy, Do We Miss Him (none / 0) (#13)
    by daring grace on Thu Jul 03, 2008 at 10:02:58 AM EST
    and Douglas and Brennan...

    Just sitting here reflecting how these justices sitting on the court when I was coming of age sparked my interest in law and in the SC. It was kind of a geeky thing to be following as a kid, and my family was sort of...perplexed.

    Can't imagine Scalia and Thomas and Rehnquist (or Alito or Roberts would do likewise today.

    Thanks for posting this.... (none / 0) (#14)
    by carrienae on Thu Jul 03, 2008 at 12:39:11 PM EST
    I love this man... such integrity, conviction, intelligence and  compassion. Marshall was a great man and a great American.

    Hillary'08

    Thurgood Marshall Would Turn 100 Today | 14 comments (14 topical)

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