View source for Thurgood Marshall

{{Short description|US Supreme Court justice from 1967 to 1991}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Pp-semi-indef}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image               = Thurgood-marshall-2.jpg
| caption             = Official portrait, 1976
| office              = [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States]]
| nominator           = [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]
| term_start          = October 2, 1967
| term_end            = October 1, 1991
| predecessor         = [[Tom C. Clark]]
| successor           = [[Clarence Thomas]]
| office1             = 32nd [[Solicitor General of the United States]]
| president1          = Lyndon B. Johnson
| term_start1         = August 23, 1965
| term_end1           = August 30, 1967
| predecessor1        = [[Archibald Cox]]
| successor1          = [[Erwin Griswold]]
| office2             = Judge of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]]
| nominator2          = [[John F. Kennedy]]
| term_start2         = October 5, 1961
| term_end2           = August 23, 1965
| predecessor2        = Seat established
| successor2          = [[Wilfred Feinberg]]
| birth_name          = Thoroughgood Marshall
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1908|7|2}}
| birth_place         = [[Baltimore, Maryland]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1993|1|24|1908|7|2}}
| death_place         = [[Bethesda, Maryland]], U.S.
| resting_place       = [[Arlington National Cemetery]]
| party               = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| spouse              = {{ubl |{{marriage|[[Vivian Burey Marshall|Vivian Burey]]|September 4, 1929|February 11, 1955|end=died}} |{{marriage|[[Cecilia Suyat Marshall|Cecilia Suyat]]|December 17, 1955}}}}
| children            = {{hlist |[[Thurgood Marshall Jr.|Thurgood Jr.]] |[[John W. Marshall|John]]}}
| education           = {{ubl |[[Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)|Lincoln University, Pennsylvania]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]]) |[[Howard University]] ([[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]])}}
| occupation          = {{hlist|Civil rights lawyer|jurist}}
| known_for           = First African-American Supreme Court justice
| module              = {{Listen |pos=center |embed=yes |filename=Thurgood Marshall delivers the opinion of the Court in Bounds v. Smith.ogg |title=Marshall's voice |type=speech |description=Marshall delivering the majority opinion in ''[[Bounds v. Smith]]''.<br>Recorded April 27, 1977}}
}}
'''Thoroughgood''' "'''Thurgood'''" '''Marshall''' (July 2, 1908&nbsp;– January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an [[associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States]] from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first [[African-American]] justice. Before his judicial service, he was an attorney who fought for civil rights, leading the [[NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund]]. Marshall was a prominent figure in the movement to end [[racial segregation]] in American public schools. He won 29 of the 32 civil rights cases he argued before the Supreme Court, culminating in the Court's landmark 1954 decision in ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'', which rejected the [[separate but equal doctrine]] and held segregation in public education to be unconstitutional. President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] appointed Marshall to the Supreme Court in 1967. A staunch liberal, he frequently dissented as the Court became increasingly conservative.

Born in [[Baltimore]], Maryland, Marshall attended [[Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)|Lincoln University]] and the [[Howard University School of Law]].  At Howard, he was mentored by [[Charles Hamilton Houston]], who taught his students to be "social engineers" willing to use the law to fight for civil rights. Marshall opened a law practice in Baltimore but soon joined Houston at the [[NAACP]] in New York. They worked together on the segregation case of ''[[Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada]]''; after Houston returned to Washington, Marshall took his place as special counsel of the NAACP, and he became director-counsel of the newly formed NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. He participated in numerous landmark Supreme Court cases involving civil rights, including ''[[Smith v. Allwright]]'', ''[[Morgan v. Virginia]]'', ''[[Shelley v. Kraemer]]'', ''[[McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents]]'', ''[[Sweatt v. Painter]]'', ''Brown'', and ''[[Cooper v. Aaron]]''. His approach to desegregation cases emphasized the use of sociological data to show that segregation was inherently unequal.

In 1961, President [[John F. Kennedy]] appointed Marshall to the [[U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]], where he favored a broad interpretation of constitutional protections. Four years later, Johnson appointed him as the [[U.S. Solicitor General]]. In 1967, Johnson nominated Marshall to replace Justice [[Tom C. Clark]] on the Supreme Court; despite opposition from [[Southern senators]], he was confirmed by a vote of 69 to 11. He was often in the majority during the consistently liberal [[Warren Court]] period, but after appointments by President [[Richard Nixon]] made the Court more conservative, Marshall frequently found himself in dissent. His closest ally on the Court was Justice [[William J. Brennan Jr.]], and the two voted the same way in most cases.

Marshall's jurisprudence was pragmatic and drew on his real-world experience. His most influential contribution to constitutional doctrine, the "sliding-scale" approach to the [[Equal Protection Clause]], called on courts to apply a flexible [[balancing test]] instead of a more rigid [[Tiered scrutiny|tier-based analysis]]. He fervently opposed the [[Capital punishment in the United States|death penalty]], which in his view constituted [[cruel and unusual punishment]]; he and Brennan dissented in more than 1,400 cases in which the majority refused to review a death sentence. He favored a robust interpretation of the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]] in decisions such as ''[[Stanley v. Georgia]]'', and he supported abortion rights in ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'' and other cases. Marshall retired from the Supreme Court in 1991 and was replaced by [[Clarence Thomas]]. He died in 1993.

==Early life and education==
Thoroughgood{{Efn|Marshall was originally named "Thoroughgood" (his paternal grandfather's name), but he changed it to the briefer "Thurgood" when he was in the second grade.<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|page=13}}}} Marshall was born on July 2, 1908, in [[Baltimore]], Maryland, to Norma and William Canfield Marshall.<ref name="Davis-1992">{{Cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Michael D. |url=https://archive.org/details/thurgoodmarshall00davi |title=Thurgood Marshall: Warrior at the Bar, Rebel on the Bench |last2=Clark |first2=Hunter R. |publisher=[[Carol Publishing Group]] |year=1992 |isbn=978-1-55972-133-2 |location=Secaucas, New Jersey |author-link=Michael DeMond Davis}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=30, 35}} His father held various jobs as a waiter in hotels, in clubs, and on railroad cars, and his mother was an elementary school teacher.<ref name="Gibson-2012">{{Cite book |last=Gibson |first=Larry S. |url=https://archive.org/details/youngthurgoodmak0000gibs |title=Young Thurgood: The Making of a Supreme Court Justice |publisher=[[Prometheus Books]] |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-61614-571-2 |location=Amherst, New York |author-link=Larry S. Gibson}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=41, 45}} The family moved to [[New York City]] in search of better employment opportunities not long after Thurgood's birth; they returned to Baltimore when he was six years old.<ref name="Gibson-2012" />{{Rp|page=50}} He was an energetic and boisterous child who frequently found himself in trouble.<ref name="Davis-1992" />{{Rp|page=37}} Following legal cases was one of William's hobbies, and Thurgood oftentimes went to court with him to observe the proceedings.<ref name="Davis-1992" />{{Rp|page=37}} Marshall later said that his father "never told me to become a lawyer, but he turned me into one{{Nbsp}}... He taught me how to argue, challenged my logic on every point, by making me prove every statement I made, even if we were discussing the weather."<ref name="Davis-1992" />{{Rp|page=38}}

Marshall attended the Colored High and Training School (later [[Frederick Douglass High School (Baltimore, Maryland)|Frederick Douglass High School]]) in Baltimore, graduating in 1925 with honors.<ref name="Gibson-2012" />{{Rp|pages=69, 79}}<ref name="Williams-1998">{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Juan |url=https://archive.org/details/thurgoodmarshall0000will |title=Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary |publisher=[[Times Books]] |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-8129-2028-4 |location=New York |author-link=Juan Williams}}</ref>{{Rp|page=34}} He then enrolled at [[Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)|Lincoln University]] in [[Chester County, Pennsylvania]], the oldest college for African Americans in the United States.<ref name="Davis-1992" />{{Rp|page=43}} The mischievous Marshall was suspended for two weeks in the wake of a [[hazing]] incident, but he earned good grades in his classes and led the school's debating team to numerous victories.<ref name="Davis-1992" />{{Rp|pages=43–44, 46}} His classmates included the poet [[Langston Hughes]].<ref name="Gibson-2012" />{{Rp|page=88}} Upon his graduation with honors in 1930 with a bachelor's degree in American literature and philosophy,<ref name="Davis-1992" />{{Rp|page=46}} Marshall—being unable to attend the all-white [[University of Maryland Law School]]—applied to [[Howard University School of Law]] in Washington, D.C., and was admitted.<ref name="Gibson-2012" />{{Rp|page=107}} At Howard, he was mentored by [[Charles Hamilton Houston]], who taught his students to be "social engineers" willing to use the law as a vehicle to fight for civil rights.<ref name="Davis-1992" />{{Rp|page=56}}<ref name="Tushnet-1997a">{{Cite book |last=Tushnet |first=Mark |title=The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions |publisher=[[Chelsea House]] |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-7910-1377-9 |editor-last=Friedman |editor-first=Leon |volume=4 |location=New York |pages=1497–1519 |chapter=Thurgood Marshall |author-link=Mark Tushnet |editor2-last=Israel |editor2-first=Fred L. |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/justicesofunited0000unse/page/1497/mode/2up}}</ref>{{Rp|page=1499}} Marshall graduated in June 1933 ranked first in his class, and he passed the Maryland [[bar examination]] later that year.<ref name="Williams-1998" />{{Rp|page=|pages=59, 61}}

==Legal career==
Marshall started a law practice in Baltimore, but it was not financially successful, partially because he spent much of his time working for the benefit of the community.<ref name="Tushnet-1997a" />{{Rp|page=1499}} He volunteered with the Baltimore branch of the [[NAACP|National Association for the Advancement of Colored Persons]] (NAACP).<ref name="Bloch-1993">{{Cite book |last=Bloch |first=Susan Low |url=https://archive.org/details/supremecourtjust0000unse |title=Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies |publisher=[[CQ Press]] |year=1993 |isbn=978-1-60871-832-0 |editor-last=Cushman |editor-first=Clare |location=Washington, DC |pages=476–480 |language=en |chapter=Thurgood Marshall |author-link=Susan Low Bloch}}</ref>{{Rp|page=477}} In 1935, Marshall and Houston brought suit against the University of Maryland on behalf of [[Donald Gaines Murray]], an African American whose application to the university's law school had been rejected on account of his race.<ref name="Davis-1992" />{{Rp|page=78}}<ref name="Gibson-2012" />{{Rp|pages=237–238}} In that case—''[[Murray v. Pearson]]''—Judge [[Eugene O'Dunne]] ordered that Murray be admitted, and the [[Maryland Court of Appeals]] affirmed, holding that it violated [[Equal Protection Clause|equal protection]] to admit white students to the law school while keeping blacks from being educated in-state.<ref name="Gibson-2012" />{{Rp|pages=231, 246, 256}} The decision was never [[appeal]]ed to the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] and therefore did not apply nationwide, but it pleased Marshall, who later said that he had filed the lawsuit "to get even with the bastards" who had kept him from attending the school himself.<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|page=47}}

[[File:NAACP leaders with poster NYWTS.jpg|thumb|NAACP leaders [[Henry L. Moon]], [[Roy Wilkins]], [[Herbert Hill (labor director)|Herbert Hill]], and Thurgood Marshall in 1956]]

In 1936, Marshall joined Houston, who had been appointed as the NAACP's special counsel, in New York City, serving as his assistant.<ref name="Bloch-1993" />{{Rp|page=477}}<ref name="Tushnet-1994">{{Cite book |last=Tushnet |first=Mark V. |url=https://archive.org/details/makingcivilright0000tush |title=Making Civil Rights Law: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court, 1936–1961 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-19-508412-2 |location=New York |author-link=Mark Tushnet}}</ref>{{Rp|page=19}} They worked together on the landmark case of ''[[Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada]]'' (1938)''.''<ref name="Bloch-1993" />{{Rp|page=477}} When [[Lloyd L. Gaines|Lloyd Lionel Gaines]]'s application to the [[University of Missouri School of Law|University of Missouri's law school]] was rejected on account of his race, he filed suit, arguing that his equal-protection rights had been violated because he had not been provided with a legal education substantially equivalent to that which white students received.<ref name="Davis-1992" />{{Rp|pages=92–93}} After Missouri courts rejected Gaines's claims, Houston—joined by Marshall, who helped to prepare the brief—sought review in the U.S. Supreme Court.<ref name="Davis-1992" />{{Rp|page=94}}<ref name="Tushnet-1994" />{{Rp|page=70}} They did not challenge the Court's decision in ''[[Plessy v. Ferguson]]'' (1896), which had accepted the "[[separate but equal]]" doctrine; instead, they argued that Gaines had been denied an equal education.<ref name="Davis-1992" />{{Rp|pages=12, 94}} In an opinion by Chief Justice [[Charles Evans Hughes]], the Court held that if Missouri gave whites the opportunity to attend law school in-state, it was required to do the same for blacks.<ref name="Tushnet-1994" />{{Rp|page=70}}

Houston returned to Washington in 1938, and Marshall assumed his position as special counsel the following year.<ref name="Tushnet-1994" />{{Rp|page=26}} He also became the director-counsel of the [[NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund|NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc.]] (the Inc Fund), which had been established as a separate organization for tax purposes.<ref name="Tushnet-1994" />{{Rp|page=27}} In addition to litigating cases and arguing matters before the Supreme Court, he was responsible for raising money, managing the Inc Fund, and conducting public-relations work.<ref name="Tushnet-1994" />{{Rp|page=27}} Marshall litigated a number of cases involving unequal salaries for African Americans, winning nearly all of them; by 1945, he had ended salary disparities in major Southern cities and earned a reputation as a prominent figure in the civil rights movement.<ref name="Tushnet-1997a" />{{Rp|page=1500}} He also defended individuals who had been charged with crimes before both trial courts and the Supreme Court.<ref name="Tushnet-1997a" />{{Rp|page=1500}} Of the thirty-two civil rights cases that Marshall argued before the Supreme Court, he won twenty-nine.<ref name="Routledge-2005">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KngGCAAAQBAJ |title=The Encyclopedia of Civil Liberties in America |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-7656-8063-1 |editor-last=Schultz |editor-first=David |location=Abingdon, UK |pages=260–261 |editor2=Vile |editor-first2=John R.}}</ref>{{Rp|page=598}} He and [[William J. Durham|W. J. Durham]] wrote the brief in ''[[Smith v. Allwright]]'' (1944), in which the Court ruled the [[white primary]] unconstitutional, and he successfully argued both ''[[Morgan v. Virginia]]'' (1946), involving segregation on interstate buses, and a [[companion case]] to ''[[Shelley v. Kraemer]]'' (1948), involving racially restrictive [[Covenant (law)|covenants]].<ref name="Bland-1993">{{Cite book |last=Bland |first=Randall W. |url=https://archive.org/details/privatepressureo0000blan |title=Private Pressure on Public Law: The Legal Career of Justice Thurgood Marshall, 1934–1991 |publisher=[[University Press of America]] |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-8191-8736-9 |edition=Revised |location=Lanham, Maryland}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=31–32, 42–43, 53–57}}

From 1939 to 1947, Marshall was a member of the Board of Directors of the [[American Civil Liberties Union]].   During that period, he aligned with the faction which favored a more absolutist defense of civil liberties.  Most notably, unlike the majority of the Board, he was consistent in his opposition to Roosevelt's [[Executive Order 9066]], which put Japanese Americans into concentration camps.  Also, in contrast to most of the Board, Marshall charged that the prosecution of thirty-two right wing opponents of Roosevelt's pre-war foreign policy in the Sedition Trial of 1944 violated the First Amendment.<ref>{{cite book | last=Beito | first=David T. | title=The New Deal's War on the Bill of Rights: The Untold Story of FDR's Concentration Camps, Censorship, and Mass Surveillance | edition=First | pages=183–184, 240| location=Oakland | publisher=Independent Institute | year=2023 | isbn=978-1598133561}}</ref>

In the years after 1945, Marshall resumed his offensive against racial segregation in schools.<ref name="Tushnet-1997a" />{{Rp|page=1501}} Together with his Inc Fund colleagues, he devised a strategy that emphasized the inherent educational disparities caused by segregation rather than the physical differences between the schools provided for blacks and whites.<ref name="Tushnet-1997a" />{{Rp|page=1501}} The Court ruled in Marshall's favor in ''[[Sipuel v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma]]'' (1948), ordering that Oklahoma provide [[Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher|Ada Lois Sipuel]] with a legal education, although the justices declined to order that she be admitted to the state's law school for whites.<ref name="Tushnet-1994" />{{Rp|pages=129–130}} In 1950, Marshall brought two cases involving education to the Court: ''[[McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents]]'', which was [[George W. McLaurin]]'s challenge to unequal treatment at the [[University of Oklahoma]]'s graduate school, and ''[[Sweatt v. Painter]]'', which was [[Heman Sweatt]]'s challenge to his being required to attend a blacks-only law school in Texas.<ref name="Davis-1992" />{{Rp|pages=142–145}} The Supreme Court ruled in favor of both McLaurin and Sweatt on the same day; although the justices did not overrule ''Plessy'' and the separate but equal doctrine, they rejected discrimination against African-American students and the provisions of schools for blacks that were inferior to those provided for whites.<ref name="Davis-1992" />{{Rp|pages=145–146}}

[[File:George Edward Chalmer Hayes, Thurgood Marshall, and James Nabrit in 1954 winning Brown case.jpg|thumb|Marshall (center), [[George Edward Chalmer Hayes]], and [[James Nabrit Jr.|James Nabrit]] congratulate one another after the Supreme Court's decision in ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]''.|alt=Hayes, Marshall, and Nabit, smiling, stand outside the Supreme Court, with the inscription "Equal Justice Under Law" visible overhead]]

Marshall next turned to the issue of segregation in primary and secondary schools.<ref name="Bloch-1993" />{{Rp|page=478}} The NAACP brought suit to challenge segregated schools in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Kansas, South Carolina, and Virginia, arguing both that there were disparities between the physical facilities provided for blacks and whites and that segregation was inherently harmful to African-American children.<ref name="Tushnet-1997a" />{{Rp|page=1502}} Marshall helped to try the South Carolina case.<ref name="Tushnet-1997a" />{{Rp|page=1502}} He called numerous social scientists and other [[expert witness]]es to testify regarding the harms of segregation; these included the psychology professor [[Kenneth and Mamie Clark#Kenneth Clark|Ken Clark]], who testified that segregation in schools caused [[self-hatred]] among African-American students and inflicted damage that was "likely to endure as long as the conditions of segregation exist".<ref name="Williams-1998" />{{Rp|pages=201–202}} The five cases eventually reached the Supreme Court and were argued in December 1952.<ref name="Ball-1998">{{Cite book |last=Ball |first=Howard |url=https://archive.org/details/defiantlifethurg00ball |title=A Defiant Life: Thurgood Marshall and the Persistence of Racism in America |publisher=[[Crown Publishers]] |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-517-59931-0 |location=New York}}</ref>{{Rp|page=119}} In contrast to the oratorical rhetoric of his adversary—[[John W. Davis]], a former solicitor general and presidential candidate—Marshall spoke plainly and conversationally.<ref name="Tushnet-1997a" />{{Rp|page=1502}} He stated that the only possible justification for segregation "is an inherent determination that the people who were formerly in slavery, regardless of anything else, shall be kept as near that stage as possible. And now is the time, we submit, that this Court should make clear that that is not what our Constitution stands for."<ref name="Rowan-1993">{{Cite book |last=Rowan |first=Carl T. |url=https://archive.org/details/dreammakersdream00rowa |title=Dream Makers, Dream Breakers: The World of Justice Thurgood Marshall |publisher=[[Little, Brown & Co.]] |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-316-75978-6 |location=Boston |author-link=Carl Rowan}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=195–196}} On May 17, 1954, after internal disagreements and a 1953 reargument, the Supreme Court handed down its unanimous decision in ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'', holding in an opinion by Chief Justice [[Earl Warren]] that: "in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."<ref name="Davis-1992" />{{Rp|pages=165, 171, 176, 178}} When Marshall heard Warren read those words, he later said, "I was so happy I was numb".<ref name="Williams-1998" />{{Rp|page=226}}

The Court in ''Brown'' ordered additional arguments on the proper [[Legal remedy|remedy]] for the constitutional violation that it had identified; in [[Brown II|''Brown'' II]], decided in 1955, the justices ordered that desegregation proceed "with all deliberate speed".<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|pages=135–137}} Their refusal to set a concrete deadline came as a disappointment to Marshall, who had argued for total integration to be completed by September 1956.<ref name="Williams-1998" />{{Rp|page=237}}<ref name="Bloch-1993" />{{Rp|page=478}} In the years following the Court's decision, Marshall coordinated challenges to Virginia's "[[massive resistance]]" to ''Brown'', and he returned to the Court to successfully argue ''[[Cooper v. Aaron]]'' (1958), involving [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]]'s attempt to delay integration.<ref name="Tushnet-1997a" />{{Rp|page=1504}} Marshall, who according to the legal scholar [[Mark Tushnet]] "gradually became a civil rights leader more than a civil rights lawyer", spent substantial amounts of time giving speeches and fundraising;<ref name="Tushnet-1997a" />{{Rp|page=1503}} in 1960, he accepted an invitation from [[Tom Mboya]] to help draft [[Constitution of Kenya (1963)|Kenya's constitution]].<ref name="Williams-1998" />{{Rp|pages=284–285}} By that year, Tushnet writes, he had become "the country's most prominent Supreme Court advocate".<ref name="Tushnet-1997a" />{{Rp|page=1505}}

== Court of Appeals ==
President [[John F. Kennedy]], who according to Tushnet "wanted to demonstrate his commitment to the interests of African Americans without incurring enormous political costs", nominated Marshall to be a judge of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]] on September 23, 1961.<ref name="Tushnet-1997">{{Cite book |last=Tushnet |first=Mark V. |url=https://archive.org/details/makingconstituti0000tush |title=Making Constitutional Law: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court, 1961–1991 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-19-509314-8 |location=New York |language=en |author-link=Mark Tushnet}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=9–10}} The Second Circuit, which spanned New York, Vermont, and Connecticut, was at the time the nation's prominent appellate court.<ref name="Tushnet-1997" />{{Rp|page=10}} When Congress adjourned, Kennedy gave Marshall a [[recess appointment]], and he took the oath of office on October 23.<ref name="Tushnet-1997" />{{Rp|page=10}}

Even after his recess appointment, Southern senators continued to delay Marshall's full confirmation for more than eight months.<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|pages=181–183}} A subcommittee of the [[Senate Judiciary Committee]] postponed his hearing several times, leading Senator [[Kenneth Keating]], a New York Republican, to charge that the three-member subcommittee, which included two pro-segregation Southern Democrats, was biased against Marshall and engaged in unjustifiable delay.<ref name="Williams-1998" />{{Rp|page=298}}<ref name="Tushnet-1997" />{{Rp|page=10}} The subcommittee held several hearings between May and August 1962; Marshall faced harsh questioning from the Southerners over what the scholar Howard Ball described as "marginal issues at best".<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|page=182}} After further delays from the subcommittee, the full Judiciary Committee bypassed it and, by an 11–4 vote on September 7, endorsed Marshall's nomination.<ref name="Tushnet-1997" />{{Rp|page=12}} Following five hours of floor debate, the full Senate confirmed him by a 56–14 vote on September 11, 1962.<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|pages=181–183}}

On the Second Circuit, Marshall authored 98 majority opinions, none of which were reversed by the Supreme Court, as well as 8 concurrences and 12 dissents.<ref name="Daniels-1991">{{Cite book |last=Daniels |first=William J. |title=The Burger Court: Political and Judicial Profiles |publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]] |year=1991 |isbn=0-252-06135-7 |location=Urbana, Illinois |pages=212–237 |chapter=Justice Thurgood Marshall: The Race for Equal Justice |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/burgercourtpolit0000unse_s3q8/page/212/mode/2up}}</ref>{{Rp|page=216}} He dissented when a majority held in the [[Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourth Amendment]] case of ''United States ex rel. Angelet v. Fay'' (1964) that the Supreme Court's 1961 decision in ''[[Mapp v. Ohio]]'' (which held that the [[exclusionary rule]] applied to the states) did not apply retroactively, writing that the judiciary was "not free to circumscribe the application of a declared constitutional right".<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|page=184}} In ''United States v. Wilkins'' (1964), he concluded that the [[Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fifth Amendment]]'s protection against [[double jeopardy]] applied to the states; in ''People of the State of New York v. Galamison'' (1965), he dissented from a ruling upholding the convictions of civil rights protesters at the [[1964 New York World's Fair|New York World's Fair]].<ref name="Davis-1992" />{{Rp|pages=240–241}} Marshall's dissents indicated that he favored broader interpretations of constitutional protections than did his colleagues.<ref name="Williams-1998" />{{Rp|page=311}}

== Solicitor General ==
Marshall's nomination to the office of [[Solicitor General of the United States|Solicitor General]] was widely viewed as a stepping stone to a Supreme Court appointment.<ref name="Tushnet-1997" />{{Rp|page=19}} Johnson pressured Southern senators not to obstruct Marshall's confirmation, and a hearing before a Senate subcommittee lasted only fifteen minutes; the full Senate confirmed him on August 11, 1965.<ref name="Davis-1992" />{{Rp|pages=251–252}}<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|page=190}} As Solicitor General, Marshall won fourteen of the nineteen Supreme Court cases he argued.<ref name="Bland-1993" />{{Rp|page=133}} He later characterized the position as "the most effective job" and "maybe the best" job he ever had.<ref name="Tushnet-1997" />{{Rp|page=19}} Marshall argued in ''[[Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections]]'' (1966) that conditioning the ability to vote on the payment of a [[Poll taxes in the United States|poll tax]] was unlawful; in a companion case to ''[[Miranda v. Arizona]]'' (1966), he unsuccessfully maintained on behalf of the government that federal agents were not always required to inform arrested individuals of their rights.<ref name="Williams-1998" />{{Rp|pages=320, 323}} He defended the constitutionality of the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]] in ''[[South Carolina v. Katzenbach]]''  (1966) and ''[[Katzenbach v. Morgan]]'' (1966), winning both cases.<ref name="Davis-1992" />{{Rp|pages=259–261}}

== Supreme Court nomination ==
{{Main|Thurgood Marshall Supreme Court nomination}}
[[File:Thurgood Marshall and President Lyndon B. Johnson June 13, 1967 - LBJ Museum C5706-1 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Marshall meeting with President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] in the [[Oval Office]] of the [[White House]] on the day that Marshall was nominated by Johnson to serve on the Supreme Court]] 
[[File:Johnson remarks on Thurgood Marshall Supreme Court nomination.flac|thumb|President Johnson's remarks upon nominating Marshall to the Supreme Court, June 13, 1967]]
[[File:1967-10-06 Thurgood Marshall Universal Newsreel.webm|thumb|1967 [[Universal Newsreel]] footage covering Marshall's first day on the Supreme Court]]

In February 1967, Johnson nominated [[Ramsey Clark]] to be [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]].<ref name="Tushnet-1997" />{{Rp|page=25}} The nominee's father was [[Tom C. Clark]], an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.<ref name="Bland-1993" />{{Rp|page=150}} Fearing that his son's appointment would create substantial [[Conflict of interest|conflicts of interest]] for him, the elder Clark announced his resignation from the Court.<ref name="Tushnet-1997" />{{Rp|page=25}} For Johnson, who had long desired to nominate a non-white justice, the choice of a nominee to fill the ensuing vacancy "was as easy as it was obvious", according to the scholar [[Henry J. Abraham]].<ref name="Abraham-1999">{{Cite book |last=Abraham |first=Henry J. |url=https://archive.org/details/justicespresiden0000abra_z8x1/ |title=Justices, Presidents, and Senators: A History of the U.S. Supreme Court Appointments from Washington to Clinton |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |year=1999 |isbn=0-8476-9604-9 |location=Lanham, Maryland |author-link=Henry J. Abraham}}</ref>{{Rp|page=219}} Although the President briefly considered selecting [[William H. Hastie]] (an African-American appellate judge from Philadelphia) or a female candidate, he decided to choose Marshall.<ref name="Tushnet-1997" />{{Rp|page=25}} Johnson announced the nomination in the [[White House Rose Garden]] on June 13, declaring that Marshall "deserves the appointment{{Nbsp}}... I believe that it is the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man and the right place."<ref name="Bland-1993" />{{Rp|page=151}}<ref name="Tushnet-1997" />{{Rp|page=25}}

The public received the nomination favorably, and Marshall was praised by prominent senators from both parties.<ref name="Bland-1993" />{{Rp|pages=151, 153}} The [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Judiciary Committee]] held hearings for five days in July.<ref name="Bland-1993" />{{Rp|page=153}} Marshall faced harsh criticism from such senators as Mississippi's [[James O. Eastland]], North Carolina's [[Sam Ervin Jr.]], Arkansas's [[John L. McClellan|John McClellan]], and South Carolina's [[Strom Thurmond]], all of whom opposed the nominee's liberal jurisprudence.<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|page=195}} In what [[Time (magazine)|''Time'' magazine]] characterized as a "Yahoo-type hazing", Thurmond asked Marshall over sixty questions about various minor aspects of the history of certain constitutional provisions.<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|page=196}} By an 11–5 vote on August 3, the committee recommended that Marshall be confirmed.<ref name="Williams-1998" />{{Rp|page=337}} On August 30, after six hours of debate, senators voted 69–11{{Efn|Thirty-two Republicans and thirty-seven Democrats voted to confirm Marshall; one Republican (Thurmond) and ten Southern Democrats voted against him.<ref name="Bland-1993" />{{Rp|page=156}} On the urging of Johnson, twenty Southerners did not cast a vote.<ref name="Williams-1998" />{{Rp|page=337}}}} to confirm Marshall to the Supreme Court.<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|page=197}}<ref>{{cite journal|title=Senate|date=June 9, 1969|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|edition=Bound|volume=115|issue=11|pages=15195–15196|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1969-pt11/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1969-pt11-8-2.pdf|access-date=February 12, 2022}}</ref> He took the constitutional oath of office on October 2, 1967, becoming the first African American to serve as a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.<ref name="Williams-1998" />{{Rp|page=338}}

== Supreme Court ==
[[File:Thurgoodmarshall1967 (cropped).jpg|alt=Photograph of Marshall|thumb|Marshall, 1967]]

Marshall remained on the Supreme Court for nearly twenty-four years, serving until his retirement in 1991.<ref name="Tushnet-1994" />{{Rp|page=314}} The Court to which he was appointed—the [[Warren Court]]—had a consistent liberal majority, and Marshall's jurisprudence was similar to that of its leaders, Chief Justice Warren and Justice [[William J. Brennan Jr.]]<ref name="Tushnet-1997a" />{{Rp|page=1507}} Although he wrote few major opinions during this period due to his lack of seniority, he was typically in the majority.<ref name="Williams-1998" />{{Rp|page=344}}<ref name="Tushnet-2006">{{Cite book |last=Tushnet |first=Mark V. |url= |title=Biographical Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court: The Lives and Legal Philosophies of the Justices |publisher=[[CQ Press]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-933116-48-8 |editor-last=Urofsky |editor-first=Melvin I. |editor-link=Melvin I. Urofsky |location=Washington, DC |pages=334–339 |chapter=Thurgood Marshall |author-link=Mark Tushnet |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/biographicalency0000unse/page/334/mode/2up?view=theater}}</ref>{{Rp|page=335}} As a result of four Supreme Court appointments by President [[Richard Nixon]], however, the liberal coalition vanished.<ref name="Tushnet-2006" />{{Rp|page=335}} The Court under Chief Justice [[Warren E. Burger|Warren Burger]] (the [[Burger Court]]) was not as conservative as some observers had anticipated, but the task of constructing liberal majorities case-by-case was left primarily to Brennan; Marshall's most consequential contributions to constitutional law came in dissent.<ref name="Tushnet-1997a" />{{Rp|page=1508}} The justice left much of his work to his [[law clerk]]s, preferring to determine the outcome of the case and then allow the clerks to draft the opinion themselves.<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|page=215}} He took umbrage at frequent claims that he did no work and spent his time watching daytime [[soap opera]]s;<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|page=203}} according to Tushnet, who clerked for Marshall, the idea that he "was a lazy Justice uninterested in the Court's work{{Nbsp}}... is wrong and perhaps racist".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tushnet |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Tushnet |date=August 1992 |title=Thurgood Marshall and the Brethren |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/glj80&div=66&id=&page= |journal=[[Georgetown Law Journal]] |volume=80 |issue=6 |pages=2109–2130}}</ref>{{Rp|page=2109}} Marshall's closest colleague and friend on the Court was Brennan,<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|pages=210–211}} and the two justices agreed so often that their clerks privately referred to them as "Justice Brennanmarshall".{{Efn|In non-unanimous cases decided by an eight- or nine-justice court, Marshall and Brennan voted the same way 91.67% of the time during the Warren Court, 87.33% of the time during the Burger Court, and 94.86% of the time during the Rehnquist Court.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Epstein |first1=Lee J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VghVzgEACAAJ |title=The Supreme Court Compendium: Two Centuries of Data, Decisions, and Developments |last2=Segal |first2=Jeffrey A. |last3=Spaeth |first3=Harold J. |last4=Walker |first4=Thomas G. |publisher=[[CQ Press]] |year=2021 |isbn=978-1-0718-3456-5 |edition=7th |location=Thousand Oaks, California |language=en |author-link=Lee Epstein}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=638, 642, 646}}}}<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/supremecourtinco0000unse |title=The Supreme Court in Conference, 1940–1985: The Private Discussions Behind Nearly 300 Supreme Court Decisions |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-19-512632-7 |editor-last=Dickson |editor-first=Del |location=New York}}</ref>{{Rp|page=10}} He also had a high regard for Warren, whom he described as "probably the greatest Chief Justice who ever lived".<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|page=210}}

Marshall consistently sided with the Supreme Court's liberal bloc.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Marszalek |first=John F. |title=Encyclopedia of African-American Civil Rights: From Emancipation to the Present |publisher=[[Greenwood Press]] |year=1992 |isbn=0-313-25011-1 |editor-last=Lowery |editor-first=Charles D. |location=Westport, Connecticut |pages=345–347 |chapter=Marshall, Thurgood |author-link=John F. Marszalek |editor-last2=Marszalek |editor-first2=John F. |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofaf00arie/page/345/mode/2up}}</ref>{{Rp|page=347}} According to the scholar William J. Daniels: "His approach to justice was Warren Court–style [[legal realism]]{{Nbsp}}... In his dissenting opinions he emphasized individual rights, fundamental fairness, equal opportunity and protection under the law, the supremacy of the Constitution as the embodiment of rights and privileges, and the Supreme Court's responsibility to play a significant role in giving meaning to the notion of constitutional rights."<ref name="Daniels-1991" />{{Rp|pages=234–235}} Marshall's jurisprudence was pragmatic and relied on his real-world experience as a lawyer and as an African American.<ref name="Tushnet-2006" />{{Rp|page=339}} He disagreed with the notion (favored by some of his conservative colleagues) that the Constitution [[Originalism|should be interpreted according to the Founders' original understandings]];<ref name="Hall-2001">{{Cite book |last=Hall |first=Timothy L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8AJ7__ph3rgC |title=Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary |publisher=[[Facts on File]] |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-8160-4194-7 |location=New York |pages=202–205}}</ref>{{Rp|page=382}} in a 1987 speech commemorating the Constitution's bicentennial, he said:<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Marshall |first=Thurgood |date=November 1987 |title=Reflections on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/hlr101&id=19&div=&collection= |journal=[[Harvard Law Review]] |volume=101 |issue=1 |pages=1–5|doi=10.2307/1341223 |jstor=1341223 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{Rp|pages=2, 5}}

{{Blockquote|text=... I do not believe that the meaning of the Constitution was forever "fixed" at the Philadelphia Convention. Nor do I find the wisdom, foresight, and sense of justice exhibited by the framers particularly profound. To the contrary, the government they devised was defective from the start, requiring several amendments, a civil war, and momentous social transformation to attain the system of constitutional government, and its respect for the individual freedoms and human rights, that we hold as fundamental today{{nbsp}}... "We the People" no longer enslave, but the credit does not belong to the framers. It belongs to those who refused to acquiesce in outdated notions of "liberty", "justice", and "equality", and who strived to better them{{nbsp}}... I plan to celebrate the bicentennial of the Constitution as a living document, including the Bill of Rights and the other amendments protecting individual freedoms and human rights.}}

=== Equal protection and civil rights ===
[[File:US Supreme Court 1976.png|alt=Black-and-white photograph of the nine justices of the Supreme Court in their judicial robes|thumb|upright=1.35|Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1976. Marshall is in the bottom row, first from the right.]]

As the Court became increasingly conservative, Marshall found himself dissenting in numerous cases regarding racial discrimination.<ref name="Tushnet-1997a" />{{Rp|page=1511}} When the majority held in ''[[Milliken v. Bradley]]'' that a lower court had gone too far in ordering [[Desegregation busing|busing]] to reduce racial imbalances between schools in Detroit, he dissented, criticizing his colleagues for what he viewed as a lack of resolve to implement desegregation even when faced with difficulties and public resistance.<ref name="Davis-1992" />{{Rp|pages=344–345}} In a dissent in ''[[City of Memphis v. Greene]]'' that according to Tushnet "demonstrated his sense of the practical reality that formed the context for abstract legal issues", he argued that a street closure that made it more difficult for residents of an African-American neighborhood to reach a city park was unconstitutional because it sent "a plain and powerful symbolic message" to blacks "that because of their race, they are to stay out of the all-white enclave{{Nbsp}}... and should instead take the long way around".<ref name="Tushnet-1997" />{{Rp|pages=91–92}} Marshall felt that [[affirmative action]] was both necessary and constitutional;<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|page=257}} in an opinion in ''[[Regents of the University of California v. Bakke]]'', he commented that it was "more than a little ironic that, after several hundred years of class-based discrimination against Negroes, the Court is unwilling to hold that a class-based remedy for that discrimination is permissible".<ref name="Tushnet-1997" />{{Rp|page=131}} Dissenting in ''[[City of Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co.]]'', he rejected the majority's decision to strike down an affirmative-action program for government contractors, stating that he did "not believe that this Nation is anywhere close to eradicating racial discrimination or its vestiges".<ref name="Tushnet-1997" />{{Rp|pages=139–143}}

Marshall's most influential contribution to constitutional doctrine was his "sliding-scale" approach to the Equal Protection Clause, which posited that the judiciary should assess a law's constitutionality by balancing its goals against its impact on groups and rights.<ref name="Tushnet-2006" />{{Rp|page=336}}  Dissenting in ''[[Dandridge v. Williams]]'', a case in which the majority upheld Maryland's $250-a-month cap on welfare payments against claims that it was insufficient for large families, he argued that [[rational basis review]] was not appropriate in cases involving "the literally vital interests of a powerless minority".<ref name="Tushnet-1997" />{{Rp|pages=98–99}} In what [[Cass Sunstein]] described as the justice's greatest opinion, Marshall dissented when the Court in ''[[San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez]]'' upheld a system in which local schools were funded mainly through property taxes, arguing that the policy (which meant that poorer school districts obtained less money than richer ones) resulted in unconstitutional discrimination.<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|pages=224–225}}<ref name="Tushnet-1997" />{{Rp|pages=100–101}} His dissent in ''[[Harris v. McRae]]'', in which the Court upheld the [[Hyde Amendment]]'s ban on the use of [[Medicaid]] funds to pay for [[abortions]], rebuked the majority for applying a "relentlessly formalistic catechism" that failed to take account of the amendment's "crushing burden on indigent women".<ref name="Tushnet-1997" />{{Rp|pages=102–103}} Although Marshall's sliding-scale approach was never adopted by the Court as a whole, the legal scholar [[Susan Low Bloch]] comments that "his consistent criticism seems to have prodded the Court to somewhat greater flexibility".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bloch |first=Susan Low |title=The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-19-505835-2 |editor-last=Hall |editor-first=Kermit L. |editor-link=Kermit L. Hall |location=New York |pages=526–528 |chapter=Marshall, Thurgood |author-link=Susan Low Bloch |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00hall/page/526/mode/2up}}</ref>{{Rp|page=527}}

=== Criminal procedure and capital punishment ===
Marshall supported the Warren Court's constitutional decisions on criminal law, and he wrote the opinion of the Court in ''[[Benton v. Maryland]]'', which held that the Constitution's prohibition of double jeopardy applied to the states.<ref name="Tushnet-2006" />{{Rp|page=337}} After the retirements of Warren and Justice [[Hugo Black]], however, "Marshall was continually shocked at the refusal" of the Burger and [[Rehnquist Court]]s "to hold police and those involved in the criminal justice system responsible for acting according to the language and the spirit of fundamental procedural guarantees", according to Ball.<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|page=286}} He favored a strict interpretation of the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement and opposed rulings that made exceptions to that provision;<ref name="Ogletree-1989">{{Cite journal |last=Ogletree |first=Charles J. |author-link=Charles Ogletree |date=1989 |title=Justice Marshall's Criminal Justice Jurisprudence: 'The Right Thing to Do, the Right Time to Do It, the Right Man and the Right Place' |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/hblj6&id=117&div=&collection= |journal=Harvard Blackletter Journal |volume=6 |pages=111–130}}</ref>{{Rp|page=112}} in ''[[United States v. Ross]]'', for instance, he indignantly dissented when the Court upheld a conviction that was based on evidence discovered during a warrantless search of containers that had been found in an automobile.<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|pages=291–292}} Marshall felt strongly that the [[Miranda warning|''Miranda'' doctrine]] should be expanded and fully enforced.<ref name="Ogletree-1989" />{{Rp|page=112}} In cases involving the [[Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Sixth Amendment]], he argued that defendants must have competent attorneys; dissenting in ''[[Strickland v. Washington]]'', Marshall (parting ways with Brennan) rejected the majority's conclusion that defendants must prove prejudice in [[ineffective assistance of counsel]] cases.<ref name="Tushnet-1997" />{{Rp|pages=187–188}}<ref name="Ogletree-1989" />{{Rp|page=112}}

Marshall fervently opposed [[Capital punishment in the United States|capital punishment]] throughout his time on the Court, arguing that it was [[Cruel and unusual punishment|cruel and unusual]] and therefore unconstitutional under the [[Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Eighth Amendment]].<ref name="Davis-1992" />{{Rp|page=318}} He was the only justice with considerable experience defending those charged with capital crimes, and he expressed concern about the fact that injustices in death-penalty cases could not be remedied, often commenting: "Death is so lasting."<ref name="Tushnet-1997a" />{{Rp|pages=1514–1515}} In ''[[Furman v. Georgia]]'', a case in which the Court struck down the capital-punishment statutes that were in force at the time, Marshall wrote that the death penalty was "morally unacceptable to the people of the United States at this time in their history" and that it "falls upon the poor, the ignorant, and the underprivileged members of society".<ref name="Tushnet-1997a" />{{Rp|page=1515}} When the Court in ''[[Gregg v. Georgia]]'' upheld new death-penalty laws that required juries to consider [[Aggravation (law)|aggravating]] and [[Mitigating factor|mitigating circumstances]], he dissented, describing capital punishment as a "vestigial savagery" that was immoral and violative of the Eighth Amendment.<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|page=305}} Afterwards, Marshall and Brennan dissented in every instance in which the Court declined to review a death sentence, filing more than 1,400 dissents that read: "Adhering to our views that the death penalty is in all circumstances cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, we would grant [[certiorari]] and vacate the death sentence in this case."<ref name="Tushnet-1997" />{{Rp|page=175}}

=== First Amendment ===
According to Ball, Marshall felt that the rights protected by the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]] were the Constitution's most important principles and that they could be restricted only for extremely compelling reasons.<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|page=316}} In a 1969 opinion in ''[[Stanley v. Georgia]]'', he held that it was unconstitutional to criminalize the possession of [[Obscenity|obscene material]].<ref name="Tushnet-2006" />{{Rp|page=335}} For the Court, he reversed the conviction of a Georgia man charged with possessing pornography, writing: "If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a State has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his own house, what books he may read or what films he may watch."<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|page=317}} In ''[[Amalgamated Food Employees Union Local 400 v. Logan Valley Plaza]]'', he wrote for the Court that protesters had the right to picket on private property that was open to the public—a decision that was effectively overruled (over Marshall's dissent) four years later in [[Lloyd Corp. v. Tanner|''Lloyd Corporation v. Tanner'']].<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|pages=323–324}} He emphasized equality in his free speech opinions, writing in ''[[Chicago Police Dept. v. Mosley]]'' that "above all else, the First Amendment means that government has no power to restrict expression because of its messages, its ideas, its subject matter, or its content".<ref name="Tushnet-1997a" />{{Rp|page=1513}} Making comparisons to earlier civil rights protests, Marshall vigorously dissented in ''[[Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence]]'', a case in which the Court ruled that the government could forbid homeless individuals from protesting poverty by sleeping overnight in [[Lafayette Park (Washington, D.C.)|Lafayette Park]]; although Burger decried their claims as "frivolous" attempts to "trivialize" the Constitution, Marshall argued that the protesters were engaged in constitutionally protected [[symbolic speech]].<ref name="Williams-1998" />{{Rp|page=378}}<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|pages=326–327}}

Marshall joined the majority in ''[[Texas v. Johnson]]'' and ''[[United States v. Eichman]]'', two cases in which the Court held that the First Amendment protected the right to burn the American flag.<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|pages=332–333}} He favored the total [[separation of church and state]], dissenting when the Court upheld in ''[[Lynch v. Donnelly]]'' a city's display of a [[nativity scene]] and joining the majority in ''[[Wallace v. Jaffree]]'' to strike down an Alabama law regarding prayer in schools.<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|page=|pages=343–346}} On the issue of the [[Free Exercise Clause|free exercise of religion]], Marshall voted with the majority in ''[[Wisconsin v. Yoder]]'' to hold that a school attendance law could not be constitutionally applied to the [[Amish]], and he joined Justice [[Harry Blackmun]]'s dissent when the Court in ''[[Employment Division v. Smith]]'' upheld a restriction on religious uses of [[peyote]] and curtailed ''[[Sherbert v. Verner]]''<nowiki/>'s [[strict scrutiny]] standard.<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|pages=351–353}} In the view of [[J. Clay Smith Jr.]] and Scott Burrell, the justice was "an unyielding supporter of civil liberties", whose "commitment to the values of the First Amendment was enhanced from actually realizing the historical consequences of being on the weaker and poorer side of power".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=J. Clay Jr |author-link=J. Clay Smith Jr. |last2=Burrell |first2=Scott |date=Summer 1994 |title=Justice Thurgood Marshall and the First Amendment |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/arzjl26&id=473&div=&collection= |journal=[[Arizona State Law Journal]] |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=461–478}}</ref>{{Rp|page=477}}

=== Privacy ===
In Marshall's view, the Constitution guaranteed to all citizens the [[right to privacy]]; he felt that although the Constitution nowhere mentioned such a right expressly, it could be inferred from various provisions of the [[United States Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]].<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|page=356}} He joined the majority in ''[[Eisenstadt v. Baird]]'' to strike down a statute that prohibited the distribution or sale of [[contraceptives]] to unmarried persons, dissented when the Court in ''[[Bowers v. Hardwick]]'' upheld an [[Sodomy law|anti-sodomy law]], and dissented from the majority's decision in ''[[Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health]]'' that the Constitution did not protect an unconditional [[right to die]].<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|pages=358–364}} On the issue of abortion rights, the author [[Carl T. Rowan]] comments that "no justice ever supported a woman's right to choice as uncompromisingly as Marshall did".<ref name="Rowan-1993" />{{Rp|page=323}} He joined Blackmun's opinion for the Court in ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'', which held that the Constitution protected a woman's right to have an abortion,<ref name="Davis-1992" />{{Rp|page=342}} and he consistently voted against state laws that sought to limit that right in cases such as ''[[Maher v. Roe]]'', ''[[H. L. v. Matheson]]'', ''[[Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health]]'', ''[[Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists]]'', and ''[[Webster v. Reproductive Health Services]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Baugh |first=Joyce A. |date=Winter 1996 |title=Justice Thurgood Marshall: Advocate for Gender Justice |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1311811713 |journal=Western Journal of Black Studies |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=195–206|id={{ProQuest|1311811713}} }}</ref>{{Rp|page=203}}

=== Other topics ===
During his service on the Supreme Court, Marshall participated in over 3,400 cases and authored 322 majority opinions.<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|page=401}} He was a member of the unanimous majority in ''[[United States v. Nixon]]'' that rejected President Nixon's claims of absolute [[executive privilege]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zelden |first=Charles L. |date=March 2017 |title='How Do You Feel about Writing Dissents'? Thurgood Marshall's Dissenting Vision for America |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/jspcth42&div=10&id=&page= |journal=[[Journal of Supreme Court History]] |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=77–100|doi=10.1111/jsch.12136 |s2cid=151734746 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{Rp|page=78}} Marshall wrote several influential decisions in the fields of [[corporate law]] and [[securities law]], including a frequently-cited opinion regarding [[Materiality (law)#In corporate and securities law|materiality]] in ''[[TSC Industries, Inc. v. Northway, Inc.]]''<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Winter |first=Ralph K. |author-link=Ralph K. Winter Jr. |date=October 1991 |title=TM's Legacy |url=https://openyls.law.yale.edu/bitstream/handle/20.500.13051/8662/15_101YaleLJ25_1991_1992_.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y |journal=[[Yale Law Journal]] |volume=101 |issue=1 |pages=25–29}}</ref>{{Rp|page=25}} His opinions involving [[personal jurisdiction]], such as ''[[Shaffer v. Heitner]]'', were pragmatic and de-emphasized the importance of state boundaries.<ref name="Tushnet-1997a" />{{Rp|page=1514}} According to Tushnet, Marshall was "the Court's liberal specialist in [[Native American Indian law|Native American law]]"; he endeavored to protect Native Americans from regulatory action on the part of the states.<ref name="Tushnet-2006" />{{Rp|page=338}} He favored a rigid interpretation of procedural requirements, saying in one case that "rules mean what they say"—a position that in Tushnet's view was motivated by the justice's "traditionalist streak".<ref name="Tushnet-1997" />{{Rp|pages=185–186}}

Like most Supreme Court justices, many of Marshall's [[law clerk]]s went on to become prominent lawyers and legal scholars. His clerks included future Supreme Court justice [[Elena Kagan]], U.S. circuit judge [[Douglas H. Ginsburg]], and legal scholars [[Cass Sunstein]], [[Mark Tushnet]], and [[Martha Minow]].

== Personal life ==
[[File:Thurgood Marshall and family, 1965.png|alt=Refer to caption|thumb|upright|Marshall, his wife [[Cecilia Suyat Marshall|Cissy]], and their children [[John W. Marshall|John]] (bottom left) and [[Thurgood Marshall Jr.|Thurgood Jr.]] (bottom right), 1965]]

Marshall wed [[Vivian Burey Marshall|Vivian "Buster" Burey]] on September 4, 1929, while he was a student at Lincoln University.<ref name="Gibson-2012" />{{Rp|pages=101, 103}} They remained married until her death from cancer in 1955.<ref name="Davis-1992" />{{Rp|page=180}} Marshall married [[Cecilia Suyat Marshall|Cecilia "Cissy" Suyat]], an NAACP secretary, eleven months later; they had two children: [[Thurgood Marshall Jr.|Thurgood Jr.]] and [[John W. Marshall|John]].<ref name="Davis-1992" />{{Rp|page=|pages=180–181}} Thurgood Jr. became an attorney and worked in the [[Clinton administration]], and John directed the [[United States Marshals Service|U.S. Marshals Service]] and served as [[Virginia Secretary of Public Safety|Virginia's secretary of public safety]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Brown |first=DeNeen L. |date=August 19, 2016 |title=A Colorblind Love |pages=B2 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1812382061 |access-date=August 11, 2022|id={{ProQuest|1812382061}} }}</ref>

Marshall was an active member of the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]] and served as a delegate to its 1964 convention, walking out after a resolution to recognize a right to disobey immoral segregation laws was voted down.<ref name="Tushnet-1997" />{{Rp|page=180}} He was a [[Prince Hall Freemasonry|Prince Hall Mason]], attending meetings and participating in rituals.<ref name="Tushnet-1997" />{{Rp|page=180}} He refused to attend the Supreme Court's annual Christmas party believing that it infringed upon the separation of church and state.<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|pages=343}}

Justice [[Sandra Day O'Connor]], who served with Marshall on the Supreme Court for a decade, wrote that "it was rare during our conference deliberations that he would not share an anecdote, a joke or a story"; although O'Connor initially treated the stories as "welcome diversions", she later "realized that behind most of the anecdotes was a relevant legal point".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=O'Connor |first=Sandra Day |author-link=Sandra Day O'Connor |date=Summer 1992 |title=Thurgood Marshall: The Influence of a Raconteur |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/stflr44&div=50&id=&page= |journal=[[Stanford Law Review]] |volume=44 |issue=6 |pages=1217–1220|doi=10.2307/1229051 |jstor=1229051 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{Rp|page=1217–1218}}

== Retirement, later life, and death ==
[[File:Thurgood Marshall, First African-American Supreme Court Justice.jpg|alt=Gravestone reading "Thurgood Marshall / Associate Justice / 1967–1991 / United States Supreme Court / July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993|thumb|Marshall's gravestone at [[Arlington National Cemetery]]]]

Marshall did not wish to retire—he frequently said "I was appointed to a life term, and I intend to serve it"—but he had been in ill health for many years, and Brennan's retirement in 1990 left him unhappy and isolated on the Court.<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|pages=377–378}}<ref name="Atkinson-1999">{{Cite book |last=Atkinson |first=David N. |url=https://archive.org/details/leavingbenchsupr0000atki |title=Leaving the Bench: Supreme Court Justices at the End |publisher=[[University Press of Kansas]] |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-7006-0946-8 |location=Lawrence, Kansas}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=156, 158}} The 82-year-old justice announced on June 27, 1991, that he would retire.<ref name="Bloch-1993" />{{Rp|page=480}} When asked at a [[press conference]] what was wrong with him that would cause him to leave the Court, he replied: "What's ''wrong'' with me? I'm old. I'm getting old and coming apart!"<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|page=379}}

President [[George H. W. Bush]] (whom Marshall loathed) nominated [[Clarence Thomas]], a rightist who had served in the Reagan and Bush administrations, to replace Marshall.<ref name="Ball-1998" />{{Rp|page=379}} His retirement took effect on October 1.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Biskupic |first1=Joan |url=https://archive.org/details/guidetoussupreme00bisk |title=Guide to the U.S. Supreme Court |last2=Witt |first2=Elder |publisher=[[Congressional Quarterly]] |year=1997 |isbn=978-1-56802-130-0 |edition=3rd |location=Washington, DC |author-link=Joan Biskupic}}</ref>{{Rp|page=951}}

Marshall served as a [[visiting judge]] on the Second Circuit for a week in January 1992, and he received the [[American Bar Association]]'s highest award in August of that year.<ref name="Williams-1998" />{{Rp|pages=394–395}} His health continued to deteriorate, and, on January 24, 1993, at the [[Bethesda Naval Medical Center]], he died of [[heart failure]].<ref name="Williams-1998" />{{Rp|page=395}}<ref name="Atkinson-1999" />{{Rp|page=159}} He was 84 years old.<ref name="Williams-1998" />{{Rp|page=396}}

Marshall [[Lying in repose|lay in repose]] in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court,<ref name="Atkinson-1999" />{{Rp|page=159}} and thousands thronged there to pay their respects;<ref name="Bloch-1993" />{{Rp|page=480}} more than four thousand attended his funeral service at the [[Washington National Cathedral]].<ref name="Williams-1998" />{{Rp|page=397}} The civil rights leader [[Vernon E. Jordan]] said that Marshall had "demonstrat[ed] that the law could be an instrument of liberation", while Chief Justice [[William Rehnquist]] gave a eulogy in which he said: "Inscribed above the front entrance to the Supreme Court building are the words 'Equal justice under law'. Surely no one individual did more to make these words a reality than Thurgood Marshall."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Labaton |first=Stephen |date=January 29, 1993 |title=Thousands Fill Cathedral To Pay Tribute to Marshall |language=en-US |pages=A16 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/29/us/thousands-fill-cathedral-to-pay-tribute-to-marshall.html |access-date=September 15, 2022}}</ref> Marshall was buried at [[Arlington National Cemetery]].<ref name="Williams-1998" />{{Rp|page=398}}

== Appraisal and legacy ==
[[File:Marshall-courthouse1.jpg|alt=Refer to caption|thumb|upright|The [[Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse]], renamed in Marshall's honor in 2001]]

According to the scholar Daniel Moak, Marshall "profoundly shaped the political direction of the United States", "transformed constitutional law", and "opened up new facets of citizenship to black Americans".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moak |first=Daniel |title=African American Political Thought |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-226-72607-6 |editor-last=Rogers |editor-first=Melvin L. |location=Chicago |pages=386–412 |chapter=Thurgood Marshall: The Legacy and Limits of Equality under the Law |doi=10.7208/9780226726076-018 |doi-broken-date=July 12, 2025 |editor-last2=Turner |editor-first2=Jack |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7208/9780226726076-018/html}}</ref>{{Rp|page=411}} For Tushnet, he was "probably the most important American lawyer of the twentieth century";<ref name="Tushnet-1997a" />{{Rp|page=1498}} in the view of the political scientist [[Robert C. Smith (political scientist)|Robert C. Smith]], he was "one of the greatest leaders in the history of the African-American struggle for freedom and equality".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Robert C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kb0sFxQ6yHoC |title=Encyclopedia of African American Politics |publisher=[[Facts on File]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-4381-3019-4 |location=New York |language=en |author-link=Robert C. Smith (political scientist)}}</ref>{{Rp|page=218}} A 1999 survey of black political scientists listed Marshall as one of the ten greatest African-American leaders in history; panelists described him as the "greatest jurist of the twentieth century" and stated that he "spearheaded the creation of the legal foundations of the civil rights movement".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Robert C. |author-link=Robert C. Smith (political scientist) |date=2001 |title=Rating Black Leaders |url=https://www.ncobps.org/assets/uploads/2021/10/Volume-8-The-Politics-of-the-Black-Nation-A-Twenty-Five-Year-Retrospective-2001.pdf#page=136 |journal=National Political Science Review |volume=8 |pages=124–138}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=129, 132}} Scholars of the Supreme Court have not rated Marshall as highly as some of his colleagues: although his pre–Supreme Court legal career and his staunch liberalism have met with broad approval, a perception that he lacked substantial influence over his fellow justices has harmed his reputation.<ref name="Ross-1996">{{Cite journal |last=Ross |first=William G. |date=Winter 1996 |title=The Ratings Game: Factors That Influence Judicial Reputation |url=https://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1534&context=mulr&httpsredir=1&referer= |journal=[[Marquette Law Review]] |volume=79 |issue=2 |pages=402–452}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=407–408, 439}} In Abraham's view, "he was one of America's greatest public lawyers, but he was not a great Supreme Court justice".<ref name="Abraham-1999" />{{Rp|page=222}} A 1993 survey of legal scholars found that Marshall was ranked as the seventeenth-greatest justice of the Supreme Court—a rating that, while still lower than that of his fellow liberal justices, was substantially higher than was recorded in an earlier survey.<ref name="Ross-1996" />{{Rp|page=408}}

Marshall has received numerous tributes.<ref name="Gilmore-2008">{{Cite magazine |last=Gilmore |first=Brian |date=Summer 2008 |title=Lawyer of the Century: Thurgood Marshall's Legacy Looms Large in a World He Helped to Create |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nkIEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20 |magazine=[[The Crisis]] |pages=20–23}}</ref>{{Rp|page=20}} The state of Maryland renamed Baltimore's airport the [[Baltimore/Washington International Airport|Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport]] in 2005, and the University of Maryland's [[law library]] is named in his honor.<ref name="Gilmore-2008" />{{Rp|page=20}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bloch |first=Susan Low |author-link=Susan Low Bloch |date=2009 |title=Celebrating Thurgood Marshall: The Prophetic Dissenter |url=https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1938&context=facpub |journal=[[Howard Law Journal]] |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=617–635}}</ref>{{Rp|page=617}} Buildings named for Marshall include New York's 590-foot-high [[Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse]] (renamed in 2001), where he heard cases as an appellate judge, and [[Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building|the federal judicial center]] in Washington.<ref name="Williams-2017">{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Pete |author-link=Pete Williams (journalist) |date=October 10, 2017 |title=Film Marks 50th Anniversary of Thurgood Marshall's Supreme Court Arrival |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/film-marks-50th-anniversary-thurgood-marshall-s-supreme-court-arrival-n806086 |access-date=August 13, 2022 |website=[[NBC News]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Resnik |first=Judith |date=Summer 2012 |title=Building the Federal Judiciary (Literally and Legally): The Monuments of Chief Justices Taft, Warren and Rehnquist |url=https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3711&context=ilj |journal=[[Indiana Law Journal]] |volume=87 |issue=3 |pages=823–950}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=859–860}} He is the namesake of streets and schools throughout the nation, including notably [[Thurgood Marshall College]] at the [[University of California, San Diego]].<ref name="Gilmore-2008" />{{Rp|page=20}} Marshall posthumously received the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] from President [[Bill Clinton]] in 1993,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Paulsen |first1=Michael Stokes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7giCBgAAQBAJ |title=The Constitution: An Introduction |last2=Paulsen |first2=Luke |publisher=[[Basic Books]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-465-05371-1 |location=New York |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=253}} and the [[United States Postal Service]] issued a [[commemorative stamp]] in his honor in 2003.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Roberts |first=Roxanne |author-link=Roxanne Roberts |date=February 1, 2003 |title=A Man Who Pushed The Envelope: Thurgood Marshall Commemorated With A Stamp and a Soiree |pages=C1 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/409524819 |access-date=August 14, 2022|id={{ProQuest|409524819}} }}</ref> He was depicted by [[Sidney Poitier]] in the 1991 television movie [[Separate but Equal (film)|''Separate but Equal'']],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rollins |first=Peter C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iAMb9q7cqAgC |title=The Columbia Companion to American History on Film: How the Movies Have Portrayed the American Past |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-231-50839-1 |location=New York |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=335}} by [[Laurence Fishburne]] in [[George Stevens Jr.]]'s Broadway play [[Thurgood (play)|''Thurgood'']],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Marks |first=Peter |date=May 31, 2010 |title=Serving Justice Onstage: Laurence Fishburne is Supremely Pleased to Perform 'Thurgood' in Washington |pages=C1 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/347793653 |access-date=August 14, 2022|id={{ProQuest|347793653}} }}</ref> and by [[Chadwick Boseman]] in the 2017 film [[Marshall (film)|''Marshall'']].<ref name="Williams-2017" />

==See also==
{{Portal|United States|Law|Biography}}
* [[List of African-American jurists]]
* [[List of African-American federal judges]]
* [[List of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States]]
* [[List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 10)]]
* [[List of United States Supreme Court justices by time in office]]
* [[List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Warren Court|United States Supreme Court cases during the Warren Court]]
* [[List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Burger Court|United States Supreme Court cases during the Burger Court]]
* [[List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Rehnquist Court|United States Supreme Court cases during the Rehnquist Court]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist|30em}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last1 = Aldred |first1 = Lisa | last2 = Marshall | first2 = Thurgood | last3 = Wagner | first3 = Heather Lehr | title = Thurgood Marshall: Supreme Court Justice | year = 2004 | publisher = Chelsea House Publications | isbn = 978-0791081631 }}
* {{cite book |title=Root and Branch: Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, and the Struggle to End Segregation |url=https://www.bloomsburypress.com/books/catalog/root_and_branch_hc_067 |last=James |first=Rawn Jr. |year=2010 |publisher=Bloomsbury Press |access-date=November 24, 2009 |archive-date=March 1, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301091016/http://www.bloomsburypress.com/books/catalog/root_and_branch_hc_067 |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Kallen |editor-first=Stuart A. |title=Thurgood Marshall: A Dream of Justice for All |publisher=Abdo and Daughters |year=1993 |isbn=1-56239-258-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/thurgoodmarshall00kall }}
* Mack, Kenneth W., (2012). ''[https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?recid=31765 Representing the Race: The Creation of the Civil Rights Lawyer]''. Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-674-04687-0}}.
* {{Cite book|editor-last= Vile |editor-first= John R.| title= Great American Judges: An Encyclopedia |volume=1| place= Santa Barbara |publisher=ABC–CLIO|year= 2003 |isbn= 978-1-57607-989-8}}.
* {{cite book |first=Bradley C. S. |last=Watson |chapter=The Jurisprudence of William Joseph Brennan, Jr., and Thurgood Marshall |editor-last=Frost |editor-first=Bryan-Paul |editor2-first=Jeffrey |editor2-last=Sikkenga |title=History of American Political Thought |location=Lexington |publisher=Lexington Books |year=2003 |isbn=0-7391-0623-6 }}
* White, G. Edward (2007), ''The American Judicial Tradition: Profiles of Leading American Judges'' (3rd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-513962-4}}.
* {{cite book|last =Woodward |first=Robert | author-link=Bob Woodward |author2=Armstrong, Scott |author-link2=Scott Armstrong (journalist) | title =[[The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court]]| year =1979 |publisher=Simon & Schuster | location =New York | isbn = 978-0-7432-7402-9 }}

===Historiography and memory===
* Hodges, Ruth A. ''[https://dh.howard.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1010&context=msrc_pub Justice Thurgood Marshall: A Selected Bibliography]'', ([[Moorland-Spingarn Research Center]], Washington, DC, February 1993).
* {{cite book |last=Martin |first=Fenton S. |author2=Goehlert, Robert U. |title=The U.S. Supreme Court: A Bibliography |publisher=Congressional Quarterly Books |year=1990 |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=0-87187-554-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/ussupremecourtbi0000mart }}

===Primary sources===
* Marshall, Thurgood (1950). "Mr. Justice [[Frank Murphy|Murphy]] and [[Civil Rights]]." 48 ''[[Michigan Law Review]]'' 745.
* Marshall, Thurgood (1987). "Reflections on the bicentennial of the United States Constitution." ''Harvard Law Review''  101: 1+ [https://cooperative-individualism.org/marshall-thurgood_reflections-on-the-bicentennial-1987-nov.pdf online].
* Marshall, Thurgood (1987). "The Constitution's Bicentennial: Commemorating the Wrong Document" ''Vanderbilt Law Review'' 40: 1337+ [https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2686&context=vlr online].
* Tushnet, Mark V. ed. (2001). ''Thurgood Marshall: His Speeches, Writings, Arguments, Opinions, and Reminiscences''. [https://www.amazon.com/Thurgood-Marshall-Speeches-Arguments-Reminiscences/dp/1556523866/ excerpt]
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Thurgood Marshall}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100611162010/http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/oralhistory.hom/MarshallT/MarshallT.asp Oral History Interview with Thurgood Marshall], from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library
* [http://vault.fbi.gov/Thurgood%20Marshall FBI file on Thurgood Marshall]
* {{Oyez}}
* {{LittleSisPerson}}
* {{FJC Bio}}

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{{s-bef|before=[[Tom C. Clark]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States]]|years=1967–1991}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Clarence Thomas]]}}
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{{Civil rights movement}}
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{{USSolGen}}
{{SCOTUS Justices}}
{{African American topics}}
{{Lain in State (USA)|state=collapsed}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Thurgood}}
[[Category:Thurgood Marshall| ]]
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