[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 130 (Friday, October 7, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S11328]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     SENATE RESOLUTION 272--RECOGNIZING AND HONORING THE LIFE AND 
 ACHIEVEMENTS OF CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY, A JUDGE FOR THE UNITED STATES 
             DISTRICT COURT, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

  Mr. SCHUMER (for himself, Mr. Specter, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Obama, Mr. 
Bayh, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Pryor, Mr. Bingaman, Mr. Wyden, Mr. DeWine, Mr. 
Harkin, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Corzine, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Leahy, 
Mr. Hatch, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. Cochran, Mr. Coleman, Mr. 
Hagel, Mr. Salazar, Mr. Lieberman, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Reid, and Mr. 
Kerry) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and 
agreed to:

                              S. Res. 272

       Whereas Constance Baker Motley was born in 1921, in New 
     Haven, Connecticut, the daughter of immigrants from the 
     Caribbean island of Nevis;
       Whereas in 1943, Constance Baker Motley graduated from New 
     York University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics;
       Whereas, 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., and 
     fought tirelessly for 2 decades 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 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, Constance Baker Motley became the first 
     African-American woman elected to the New York State Senate;
       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;
       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;
       Whereas 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;
       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; and
       Whereas Constance Baker Motley passed away on September 28, 
     2005, and is survived by her husband Joel Wilson Motley Jr., 
     their son, Joel Motley III, her 3 grandchildren, her brother, 
     Edmund Baker of Florida, and her sisters Edna Carnegie, 
     Eunice Royster, and Marian Green, of New Haven, Connecticut: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) extends its heartfelt sympathy to the family and 
     friends of Constance Baker Motley on the occasion of her 
     passing; 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.

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