[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 132 Introduced in House (IH)]
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 132
Recognizing and honoring the life and achievements of Constance Baker
Motley, a judge for the United States District Court, Southern District
of New York.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 6, 2007
Mr. Rangel submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Recognizing and honoring the life and achievements of Constance Baker
Motley, a judge for the United States District Court, Southern District
of New York.
Whereas Constance Baker Motley was born in 1921, in New Haven, Connecticut, the
ninth of 12 children of immigrants from the Caribbean island of Nevis;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley died on September 28, 2005 in New York City,
after serving for over 50 years as a jurist and having a major impact on
ending racial discrimination;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley's mother, Rachel Baker, was a founder of the New
Haven Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) and her father, Willoughby Alva Baker, worked as a chef
for various student organizations at Yale University;
Whereas during her adolescence, Constance Baker Motley became a respected
community activist, graduated with honors from New Haven High School,
and impressed a local businessman and philanthropist, Clarance
Blakeslee, who consequently offered to finance her higher education;
Whereas in 1943, Constance Baker Motley graduated from New York University with
a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley received her law degree from Columbia University
in 1946;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley married real estate and insurance broker, Joel
Wilson Motley, and raised a son, Joel Motley III;
Whereas in 1945, Constance Baker Motley became a law clerk to Thurgood Marshall,
who was then Chief Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational
Fund, Inc.;
Whereas in 1946, Constance Baker Motley became a full-fledged member of the New
York office of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., where
she served as a staff member and associate counsel for more than 20
years;
Whereas, as a staff attorney at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund,
Inc., Constance Baker Motley fought tirelessly 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 on October 16, 1961, Constance Baker Motley argued Hamilton v. Alabama
before the United States Supreme Court, a case involving the right to
counsel in capital punishment cases;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley argued Turner v. City of Memphis before the
United States Supreme Court, a case that resulted in the desegregation
of the Dobbs Houses Restaurant in the Memphis Municipal Airport
Terminal;
Whereas on May 27, 1963, Constance Baker Motley successfully argued the case of
Watson v. City of Memphis before the United States Supreme Court, a case
which defeated a plan to desegregate all recreational facilities in
Memphis over a 12-year period by requiring immediate desegregation, and
which warned that the period of transition from segregated to
desegregated schools under Brown v. Board of Education must be
accelerated;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley argued the case of Shuttlesworth v. City of
Birmingham before the United States Supreme Court, a case involving the
arrest and conviction of Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Reverend
Charles L. Billups for urging students to engage in civil disobedience,
obtaining a ruling that resulted in the convictions being reversed;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley successfully argued before the United States
Supreme Court, in Calhoun v. Latimer, that a school board's integration
policy was insufficiently remedial and warranted reconsideration;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley argued before the United States Supreme Court on
behalf of sit-in protesters in Barr v. City of Columbia, a case in which
the Court overturned the trespass and breach-of-peace convictions of the
protesters;
Whereas Constance Baker Motley argued Hamm v. City of Rock Hill before the
United States Supreme Court, a case in which the Court overturned State
convictions in Arkansas and South Carolina that had been based on sit-in
conduct which had occurred prior to the passage of Title II of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 but was prosecuted after the effective date of such
Act;
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 and 1965, Constance Baker Motley served in the New York State
Senate as its first African-American female member;
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,
holding that office until 1966, and the first candidate for that office
to win the endorsements of the Republican, Democratic, and Liberal
Parties;
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
at the urging of Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York, a Democrat, and
with the support of Senator Jacob K. Javits, a Republican;
Whereas opposition by Southern Senators to the appointment of Constance Baker
Motley was defeated and her appointment was confirmed 9 months later,
making 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;
Whereas in 1988, Constance Baker Motley published her inspirational
autobiography, ``Equal Justice Under Law: The Life of a Pioneer for
Black Civil Rights and Women's Rights'';
Whereas Judge Kimba Wood, a former colleague of Constance Baker Motley on the
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York,
described her as having ``the strength of a self-made star. As she grew,
she was unfailingly optimistic and positive; she never let herself be
diverted from her goal of achieving civil rights, even though, as she
developed as a lawyer, she faced almost constant condescension from our
profession due to her being an African-American woman.'';
Whereas Constance Baker Motley was inducted into the National Women's Hall of
Fame in 1993;
Whereas President Bill Clinton awarded Constance Baker Motley the Presidential
Citizen's Medal and praised her, stating that ``as a dedicated public
servant and distinguished judge, she has broken down political, social,
and professional barriers, and her pursuit of equal justice under law
has widened the circle of opportunity in America.'';
Whereas Constance Baker Motley was a civil rights lawyer and trailblazer who
fought for 2 decades for equal rights under the law; and
Whereas Constance Baker Motley will be remembered as one of the greatest civil
rights lawyers: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) acknowledges the lifelong service of Constance Baker
Motley to the United States as a talented civil rights lawyer,
dedicated public servant, and skillful jurist; 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.
<all>