[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 130 (Friday, October 7, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11333-S11334]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING AND HONORING THE LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF CONSTANCE BAKER 
                                 MOTLEY

  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 272, submitted early 
today by Senator Schumer.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will please report the resolution by 
title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 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.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I am in support of this resolution to 
recognize and honor the life and achievements of Constance Baker 
Motley, a judge for the United States District Court, Southern District 
of New York. Sadly, Judge Motley passed away last week, on September 
28, 2005, at the age of 84, after having lived an extraordinary and 
exemplary life.
  Constance Baker Motley was the first African American woman, and only 
the fifth woman, to serve on the federal judiciary. Before becoming a 
judge, she was a renowned civil rights lawyer, public servant, and 
trailblazer. Her remarkable career reads like a civil rights history 
book.
  After earning her Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from New York 
University and her law degree from Columbia University, Constance Baker 
Motley joined Thurgood Marshall at the NAACP Legal Defense and 
Educational Fund. For 2 decades, Constance Baker Motley worked closely 
with Marshall and other leading civil rights lawyers to dismantle 
desegregation throughout the country.
  She was the only woman on the legal team that won the landmark 
desegregation case, Brown v. Board of Education. She went on to argue 
10 major civil rights cases before the Supreme Court, winning all but 
one of them, including James Meredith's fight to gain admission to the 
University of Mississippi.
  In 1964, Judge Motley became the first African-American woman elected 
to the New York State Senate, and in 1965, she became the first 
African-American woman, and woman, to serve as a city borough 
president, the great borough of Manhattan. During this time, Judge 
Motley worked tirelessly to revitalize the inner city and improve urban 
housing and public schools.
  In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Constance Baker Motley 
to the Southern District of New York. She was confirmed 9 months later, 
over the strong opposition of Southern Senators. She rose to the 
position of Chief Judge in 1982, and assumed senior status 4 years 
later. She served with distinction for nearly 4 decades, until last 
week. Her passing is a great loss to New York, as well as the country, 
and for this reason her life must be remembered and celebrated.
  This resolution extends the Senate's heartfelt sympathy to Judge 
Motley's friends and family and commends her for her 39-year tenure on 
the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York 
and her lifelong commitment to the advancement of civil rights and 
social justice.
  Mr. OBAMA. Mr. President, I rise today to say that, as I have often 
thought, justice is a curious thing.
  She has been poked and prodded, detained and defaced, and her 
piercing light is too often hidden from view. Justice had a tough time 
in Montgomery and Selma, and she took a sore drumming alongside Susan 
B. Anthony and the other fighters for women's suffrage. If you asked 
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. or Ms. Fannie Lou Hamer where justice was 
during those cold nights in jail in 1963, they might have said that she 
was nowhere to be found.
  But inevitably and incredibly justice always seems to find her way. 
She creeps into the dark spots of our history. She rears her head where 
she is not wanted. And, eventually, she causes the barriers meant to 
hold her back to crack and crumble, under the collective weight of 
those who fight for her cause.
  On January 25, 1966, justice was at it again. It was on that date 
after a storied career of educational success, fervent legal advocacy, 
and legislative accomplishments that Constance Baker Motley became the 
first African-American woman appointed to the Federal judiciary. Judge 
Motley passed away on September 28, 2005, at the age of 84. She is 
survived by her husband Joel, a son, three sisters and a brother. I 
rise today to honor her and the concept of justice for which she fought 
all her life.
  Constance Baker was born on September 14, 1921, in New Haven, CT. Her 
father was a chef for an exclusive club at Yale, and her mother was 
active in the NAACP. She graduated from New York University in 1943 and 
received her law degree from Columbia University in 1946. As a third-
year student at Columbia, Judge Motley joined the staff of the NAACP 
Legal Defense and Educational Fund. She would eventually become its 
principal trial attorney.
  Judge Motley's list of accomplishments while working for the Legal 
Defense Fund is stunning. In 1950, she drafted the complaint that would 
become Brown v. Board of Education. In 1957 she argued the case in 
Little Rock, AR, which prompted President Eisenhower to call in Federal 
troops to protect the ``Little Rock Nine''. She personally argued the 
1962 case in which James Meredith won admission to the University of 
Mississippi, as well as the suit that resulted in the enrollment of 
black students at the University of Georgia. All told, Judge Motley won 
9 of the 10 civil rights cases she argued before the Supreme Court, an 
astounding accomplishment for that or any other time period.
  After 20 years with the NAACP, Judge Motley was elected to the New 
York State Senate and became the first African-American woman to serve 
in that body. Among her first tasks was fighting for additional low- 
and middle-income housing. In February of 1965, Judge Motley was 
elected to serve as the President of the Borough of Manhattan, becoming 
the first woman of any race to serve in that post. And in 1966, 
President Johnson helped bring justice's work full circle. He appointed 
Judge Motley to the Federal District Court for the Southern District 
Court of New York, making her the first African American woman to sit 
on the Federal bench. She served with distinction in the Southern 
District, and became the chief judge of this court in 1982. She took 
senior status in 1986.
  I honor Judge Motley today. I honor her for her wisdom, for her 
tenacity, and for the fire with which she advocated for equal rights. 
And, equally important, I honor the spirit of justice that motivated 
Constance Baker Motley. It spurred her on from her early days in 
Connecticut to her long and distinguished tenure on the Federal bench. 
I ask that this body and all Americans remember Judge Motley today. And 
I ask that we attempt to infuse the same sense of justice which

[[Page S11334]]

guided Judge Motley into our own work, and our daily lives.
  I am pleased to join a bipartisan group of my colleagues in 
introducing a resolution honoring the life of Judge Constance Baker 
Motley and I hope this body will move swiftly to its passage.
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
resolution and preamble be agreed to, en bloc, the motion to reconsider 
be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that 
any statements relating to the resolution be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 272) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              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.

                          ____________________