[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3097 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3097

  To posthumously award a congressional gold medal to Constance Baker 
                                Motley.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 12, 2013

Ms. DeLauro (for herself, Mr. Meeks, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Lewis, Ms. Clarke, 
    Mr. Clay, Ms. Lee of California, Ms. Jackson Lee, Ms. Wilson of 
Florida, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. 
 Conyers, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Watt, 
  Mr. Carson of Indiana, and Ms. Schakowsky) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To posthumously award a congressional gold medal to Constance Baker 
                                Motley.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Congressional Tribute to Constance 
Baker Motley Act of 2013''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Constance Baker Motley was born in 1921, in New Haven, 
        Connecticut, the daughter of immigrants from the Caribbean 
        island of Nevis.
            (2) In 1943, Constance Baker Motley graduated from New York 
        University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics.
            (3) Upon receiving a law degree from Columbia University in 
        1946, Constance Baker Motley became a staff attorney at the 
        National Association for the Advancement of Colored People 
        Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (in this Act referred 
        to as the ``LDF''), and fought tirelessly for 2 decades 
        alongside Thurgood Marshall and other leading civil rights 
        lawyers to dismantle segregation throughout the United States.
            (4) Constance Baker Motley was the only female attorney on 
        the LDF legal team that won the landmark desegregation case, 
        Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
            (5) In addition to writing briefs in Brown v. Board of 
        Education, Motley was trial or appellate counsel in 57 civil 
        rights cases in the United States Supreme Court, 82 cases in 
        Federal courts of appeals, 48 cases in Federal district courts, 
        and numerous cases in State courts. She argued four appeals in 
        desegregation cases in one day. She won cases that ended de 
        jure segregation in White only restaurants and lunch counters. 
        She protected the right of protestors to march, sit-in, freedom 
        ride, and demonstrate in other ways. She represented Dr. Martin 
        Luther King, Jr., and other jailed civil rights activists and 
        forced their release when they were arrested and locked up in 
        Southern jails. She secured the right for Blacks to register, 
        vote, and have access to the political power structure. She won 
        education desegregation cases in almost every State in the 
        South and the District of Columbia and secured the right for 
        Blacks to attend formerly all White public schools, colleges, 
        and universities including the representation of James Meredith 
        against the University of Mississippi, Charlayne Hunter Gault 
        and Hamilton Holmes against the University of Georgia, 
        Autherine Lucy against the University of Alabama, Harvey Gantt 
        against Clemson College, and Ernest Morial against Louisiana 
        State University. Without her victories in the courtroom, the 
        goal of ending racial segregation in public schools, colleges, 
        and universities, public accommodations, and voting--a goal of 
        the Civil Rights Movement--may not have been achieved.
            (6) As the country celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the 
        ``Birmingham Movement'', it is noted that Motley was the 
        attorney who went South and represented Dr. King, defended his 
        right to march in Birmingham, Alabama, and Albany, Georgia, and 
        obtained the court order which mandated the reinstatement of 
        over 1,000 school children who had been expelled from school 
        for demonstrating with Dr. King in Birmingham fifty years ago. 
        She represented ``Freedom Riders'' who rode buses to test the 
        Supreme Court's 1960 ruling prohibiting segregation in 
        interstate transportation. She protected the right of Blacks to 
        ride and sit in any vacant seat on buses and trains, to use 
        bathroom facilities and drink from fountains in bus and train 
        stations, to be served and eat at lunch counters and 
        restaurants, to vote, stay in hotels, and to go to parks, 
        museums, and places of public accommodations on an equal basis 
        with Whites. She won the case in the Supreme Court that led to 
        the reversal of all arrests and convictions of all of the 
        thousands of sit-in activists.
            (7) Constance Baker Motley argued 10 major civil rights 
        cases before the Supreme Court, winning all but one.
            (8) Constance Baker Motley's only loss before the United 
        States Supreme Court was in Swain v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 202 
        (1965), a case in which the Supreme Court refused to proscribe 
        race-based peremptory challenges in cases involving African-
        American defendants, and which was later reversed in Batson v. 
        Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986), on grounds that were largely 
        asserted by Constance Baker Motley in the Swain case.
            (9) In 1964, Constance Baker Motley became the first 
        African-American woman elected to the New York State Senate.
            (10) In 1965, Constance Baker Motley became the first 
        African-American woman, and the first woman, to serve as 
        president of the Borough of Manhattan.
            (11) 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.
            (12) In 1966, Constance Baker Motley was appointed by 
        President Lyndon B. Johnson as a judge on the United States 
        District Court for the Southern District of New York.
            (13) The appointment of Constance Baker Motley made her the 
        first African-American woman, and only the fifth woman, 
        appointed and confirmed for a Federal judgeship.
            (14) 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.
            (15) Constance Baker Motley assumed senior status in 1986, 
        and continued serving on the United States District Court for 
        the Southern District of New York with distinction for nearly 2 
        decades.
            (16) Constance Baker Motley passed away on September 28, 
        2005, and is survived by her son, Joel Motley III, her 3 
        grandchildren, her brother, Edward Baker of Florida, and her 
        sisters Eunice Royster and Marian Green, of New Haven, 
        Connecticut.

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (a) Presentation Authorized.--The President pro tempore of the 
Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives are authorized 
to make appropriate arrangements for the posthumous presentation, on 
behalf of Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design in 
commemoration of Constance Baker Motley, in recognition of her enduring 
contributions and service to the United States.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For the purpose of the presentation 
referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (in this 
Act referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall strike a gold medal with 
suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the 
Secretary.

SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

    Under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, the 
Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medal 
struck under section 3, at a price sufficient to cover the cost 
thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and 
overhead expenses, and the cost of the gold medal.

SEC. 5. NATIONAL MEDALS.

    (a) National Medal.--The medal struck under section 3 is a national 
medal for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
    (b) Numismatic Items.--For purposes of section 5134 of title 31, 
United States Code, all duplicate medals struck under section 4 shall 
be considered to be numismatic items.

SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF SALE.

    (a) Authority To Use Fund Amounts.--There is authorized to be 
charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund such 
amounts as may be necessary to pay for the cost of the medals struck 
under this Act.
    (b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate 
bronze medals under section 4 shall be deposited in the United States 
Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
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