110 HRES 132 IH: Recognizing and honoring the life and
U.S. House of Representatives
2007-02-06
text/xml
EN
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Whereas Constance Baker Motley was born in 1921, in New
Haven, Connecticut, the ninth of 12 children of immigrants from the Caribbean
island of Nevis;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley died on September 28, 2005
in New York City, after serving for over 50 years as a jurist and having a
major impact on ending racial discrimination;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley’s mother, Rachel Baker, was
a founder of the New Haven Branch of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and her father, Willoughby Alva Baker,
worked as a chef for various student organizations at Yale University;
Whereas during her adolescence, Constance Baker Motley
became a respected community activist, graduated with honors from New Haven
High School, and impressed a local businessman and philanthropist, Clarance
Blakeslee, who consequently offered to finance her higher education;
Whereas in 1943, Constance Baker Motley graduated from New
York University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley received her law degree
from Columbia University in 1946;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley married real estate and
insurance broker, Joel Wilson Motley, and raised a son, Joel Motley III;
Whereas in 1945, Constance Baker Motley became a law clerk
to Thurgood Marshall, who was then Chief Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and
Educational Fund, Inc.;
Whereas in 1946, Constance Baker Motley became a
full-fledged member of the New York office of the NAACP Legal Defense and
Educational Fund, Inc., where she served as a staff member and associate
counsel for more than 20 years;
Whereas, as a staff attorney at the NAACP Legal Defense
and Educational Fund, Inc., Constance Baker Motley fought tirelessly alongside
Thurgood Marshall and other leading civil rights lawyers to dismantle
segregation throughout the country;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley was the only female
attorney on the legal team that won the landmark desegregation case, Brown v.
Board of Education;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley argued 10 major civil
rights cases before the Supreme Court, winning all but one, including the case
brought on behalf of James Meredith challenging the University of Mississippi’s
refusal to admit him;
Whereas on October 16, 1961, Constance Baker Motley argued
Hamilton v. Alabama before the United States Supreme Court, a case involving
the right to counsel in capital punishment cases;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley argued Turner v. City of
Memphis before the United States Supreme Court, a case that resulted in the
desegregation of the Dobbs Houses Restaurant in the Memphis Municipal Airport
Terminal;
Whereas on May 27, 1963, Constance Baker Motley
successfully argued the case of Watson v. City of Memphis before the United
States Supreme Court, a case which defeated a plan to desegregate all
recreational facilities in Memphis over a 12-year period by requiring immediate
desegregation, and which warned that the period of transition from segregated
to desegregated schools under Brown v. Board of Education must be
accelerated;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley argued the case of
Shuttlesworth v. City of Birmingham before the United States Supreme Court, a
case involving the arrest and conviction of Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and
Reverend Charles L. Billups for urging students to engage in civil
disobedience, obtaining a ruling that resulted in the convictions being
reversed;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley successfully argued before
the United States Supreme Court, in Calhoun v. Latimer, that a school board’s
integration policy was insufficiently remedial and warranted
reconsideration;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley argued before the United
States Supreme Court on behalf of sit-in protesters in Barr v. City of
Columbia, a case in which the Court overturned the trespass and breach-of-peace
convictions of the protesters;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley argued Hamm v. City of Rock
Hill before the United States Supreme Court, a case in which the Court
overturned State convictions in Arkansas and South Carolina that had been based
on sit-in conduct which had occurred prior to the passage of Title II of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 but was prosecuted after the effective date of such
Act;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley’s only loss before the
United States Supreme Court was in Swain v. Alabama, a case in which the Court
refused to proscribe race-based peremptory challenges in cases involving
African-American defendants and which was later reversed in Batson v. Kentucky
on grounds that had been largely asserted by Constance Baker Motley in the
Swain case;
Whereas in 1964 and 1965, Constance Baker Motley served in
the New York State Senate as its first African-American female member;
Whereas in 1965, Constance Baker Motley became the first
African-American woman, and the first woman, to serve as president of the
Borough of Manhattan, holding that office until 1966, and the first candidate
for that office to win the endorsements of the Republican, Democratic, and
Liberal Parties;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley, in her capacity as an
elected public official in New York, continued to fight for civil rights,
dedicating herself to the revitalization of the inner city and improvement of
urban public schools and housing;
Whereas in 1966, Constance Baker Motley was appointed by
President Johnson as a United States District Court Judge for the Southern
District of New York at the urging of Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York, a
Democrat, and with the support of Senator Jacob K. Javits, a Republican;
Whereas opposition by Southern Senators to the appointment
of Constance Baker Motley was defeated and her appointment was confirmed 9
months later, making her the first African-American woman, and only the fifth
woman, appointed and confirmed for a Federal judgeship;
Whereas in 1982, Constance Baker Motley was elevated to
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of
New York, the largest Federal trial court in the United States;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley assumed senior status in
1986, and continued serving with distinction for the next 2 decades;
Whereas in 1988, Constance Baker Motley published her
inspirational autobiography, Equal Justice Under Law: The Life of a
Pioneer for Black Civil Rights and Women’s Rights
;
Whereas Judge Kimba Wood, a former colleague of Constance
Baker Motley on the United States District Court for the Southern District of
New York, described her as having the strength of a self-made star. As
she grew, she was unfailingly optimistic and positive; she never let herself be
diverted from her goal of achieving civil rights, even though, as she developed
as a lawyer, she faced almost constant condescension from our profession due to
her being an African-American woman.
;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley was inducted into the
National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1993;
Whereas President Bill Clinton awarded Constance Baker
Motley the Presidential Citizen’s Medal and praised her, stating that as
a dedicated public servant and distinguished judge, she has broken down
political, social, and professional barriers, and her pursuit of equal justice
under law has widened the circle of opportunity in America.
;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley was a civil rights lawyer
and trailblazer who fought for 2 decades for equal rights under the law;
and
Whereas Constance Baker Motley will be remembered as one
of the greatest civil rights lawyers: Now, therefore, be it
That the House of
Representatives—
(1)acknowledges the
lifelong service of Constance Baker Motley to the United States as a talented
civil rights lawyer, dedicated public servant, and skillful jurist; and
(2)commends Constance
Baker Motley for—
(A)her 39-year tenure
on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York;
and
(B)her lifelong
commitment to the advancement of civil rights and social justice.