[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 148 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 148

 Recognizing and honoring the life and achievements of Constance Baker 
Motley, a judge for the United States District Court, Southern District 
                              of New York.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 10, 2009

 Mr. Rangel submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                     the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Recognizing and honoring the life and achievements of Constance Baker 
Motley, a judge for the United States District Court, Southern District 
                              of New York.

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
    Resolved, 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.
                                 <all>