The death penalty is no more effective a deterrent than life imprisonment. It is also evident that the burden of capital punishment falls upon the poor, the ignorant and the underprivileged members of society.
THURGOOD MARSHALLThe death penalty is no more effective a deterrent than life imprisonment. It is also evident that the burden of capital punishment falls upon the poor, the ignorant and the underprivileged members of society.
THURGOOD MARSHALLA child born to a Black mother in a state like Mississippi… has exactly the same rights as a white baby born to the wealthiest person in the United States. It’s not true, but I challenge anyone to say it is not a goal worth working for.
THURGOOD MARSHALLWhat is the quality of your intent?
THURGOOD MARSHALLOur Constitution is the envy of the world, as it should be for it is the grand design of the finest nation on earth.
THURGOOD MARSHALLHistory teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure.
THURGOOD MARSHALLA man can make what he wants of himself if he truly believes that he must be ready for hard work and many heartbreaks.
THURGOOD MARSHALLThe United States has been called the melting pot of the world. But it seems to me that the colored man either missed getting into the pot or he got melted down.
THURGOOD MARSHALLToday’s Constitution is a realistic document of freedom only because of several corrective amendments. Those amendments speak to a sense of decency and fairness that I and other Blacks cherish.
THURGOOD MARSHALLWe must dissent from the fear.
THURGOOD MARSHALLIt is now well established that the Constitution protects the right to receive information and ideas.This right to receive information and ideas, regardless of their social worth, is fundamental to our free society.
THURGOOD MARSHALLNone of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We got here because somebody – a parent, a teacher, an Ivy League crony or a few nuns – bent down and helped us pick up our boots.
THURGOOD MARSHALLLawlessness is lawlessness. Anarchy is anarchy is anarchy. Neither race nor color nor frustration is an excuse for either lawlessness or anarchy.
THURGOOD MARSHALLThe Constitution was a product of its times.
THURGOOD MARSHALLWe can always stick together when we are losing, but tend to find means of breaking up when we’re winning.
THURGOOD MARSHALLIn recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.
THURGOOD MARSHALLNone of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.
THURGOOD MARSHALL