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Senate Honors Constance Baker Motley

On October 7, the Senate approved, by unanimous consent, a resolution (S. Res. 272) honoring the life and achievements of Judge Constance Baker Motley who passed away on September 28, 2005.

Sponsored by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), the resolution contains a number of findings, including:

  • 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 (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., and fought tirelessly for two decades alongside Thurgood Marshall and other leading civil rights lawyers to dismantle segregation throughout the country;
  • Judge Motley was the only female attorney on the legal team that won the landmark desegregation case, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka;
  • In 1964, Judge Motley became the first African American woman elected to the New York State Senate;
  • Judge Motley became the first woman to serve as the president of the Borough of Manhattan in 1965;
  • In 1966, Judge Motley was appointed by President Johnson as a United States District Court Judge for the Southern District of New York;
  • The appointment made Judge Motley the first African American woman, and only the fifth woman, appointed and confirmed for a federal judgeship;
  • In 1982, Judge 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; and
  • Judge Motley assumed senior status in 1986, and continued serving with distinction for the next two decades.

Highlighting Judge Motley’s achievements while working for the NAACP, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) stated, “In 1950, she drafted the complaint that would become Brown v. Board of Education. In 1957, she argued the case in Little Rock, [Arkansas], 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.”

Sen. Schumer added, “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.”