Document Type
Article
Abstract
When Thurgood Marshall took the Oath in 1967, it was the twilight of one of the Court's most brilliant periods: the Warren Court's revolution of criminal and racial justice. He was a part of that alliance for two Terms. When a new Court, and new alliances, moved the Court into the dark shadows, he and his closest colleague, William Brennan, Jr., held staunchly to their vision of the Court's historic function “to be watchful for the constitutional rights of the citizen, and against any stealthy encroachment thereon.” He remained faithful to that vision to the end when, as a lone figure from those Halcyon days, he would write in his last opinion, not merely for a Court that had marginalized him, but for all of those Americans who continued to revere him: “Power, not reason, is the new currency of this Court's decision making.”
Recommended Citation
Bennett L. Gershman, Thurgood Marshall: The Lawyer As Judge, 13 Pace L. Rev. 299 (1993), http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/lawfaculty/189/.