Thurgood Marshall

Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshallwas an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from October 1967 until October 1991. Marshall was the Court's 96th justice and its first African-American justice...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionSupreme Court Justice
Date of Birth2 July 1908
CityBaltimore, MD
CountryUnited States of America
Thurgood Marshall quotes about
clause equal protection require
The equal protection clause does not require proportional representation, ... meaningless ballots.
teacher appreciation retirement
None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We got here because somebody - a parent, a teacher, an Ivy League crony or a few nuns - bent down and helped us pick up our boots.
democracy foundation injustice
To protest against injustice is the foundation of all our American democracy.
memories powerful america
I wish I could say that racism and prejudice were only distant memories. We must dissent from the indifference. We must dissent from the apathy. We must dissent from the fear, the hatred and the mistrust…We must dissent because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better.
frustration color law
Lawlessness is lawlessness. Anarchy is anarchy is anarchy. Neither race nor color nor frustration is an excuse for either lawlessness or anarchy.
ku-klux-klan too-much prejudice
The Ku Klux Klan never dies. They just stop wearing sheets because sheets cost too much.
doors doe process
Mere access to the courthouse doors does not by itself assure a proper functioning of the adversary process.
freedom men black-history
The United States has been called the melting pot of the world. But it seems to me that the colored man either missed getting into the pot or he got melted down.
years punishment justice
When in Gregg v. Georgia the Supreme Court gave its seal of approval to capital punishment, this endorsement was premised on the promise that capital punishment would be administered with fairness and justice. Instead, the promise has become a cruel and empty mockery. If not remedied, the scandalous state of our present system of capital punishment will cast a pall of shame over our society for years to come. We cannot let it continue.
color law race
Classifications and distinctions based on race or color have no moral or legal validity in our society. They are contrary to our constitution and laws.
husband jealous history
I have a lifetime appointment and I intend to serve it. I expect to die at 110, shot by a jealous husband.
country years justice
Some years ago I said in an opinion that if this country is a melting pot, then either the Afro-Americans didn't get in the pot or he didn't get melted down.
racism-and-prejudice mistrust dissent
We must dissent from the fear.
patriotic justice feelings
Patriotic feelings will surely swell, prompting proud proclamations of the wisdom, foresight, and sense of justice shared by the Framers and reflected in a written document now yellowed with age . . . [F]or many Americans the bicentennial celebration will be little more than a blind pilgrimage to the shrine of the original document now stored in a vault in the National Archives. [Progressive]