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History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure.

Thurgood Marshall

Mere access to the courthouse doors does not by itself assure a proper functioning of the adversary process.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Access Function
None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Destiny Journey Ourselves
A 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 MARSHALL

Black Born Children Goal Myself Person Right True White Worth
In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Humanity Ourselves Pay Recognition Respect
Surely the fact that a uniformed police officer is wearing his hair below his collar will make him no less identifiable as a policeman.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Fact Hairs Identify Man
Our Constitution is the envy of the world, as it should be for it is the grand design of the finest nation on earth.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Constitution Design Earth Jealous Nation Ourselves World
Some years ago I said in an opinion that if this country is a melting pot, then either the Afro-Americans didn’t get in the pot or he didn’t get melted down.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Country Melt Myself Nation Opinion Time
Equal means getting the same thing, at the same time and in the same place.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Equality Justice Law Place Time
If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a state has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his house, what books he may read or what films he may watch.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Alone Business Himself Home Law Man Meaning Movie Reading Rule See
Sometimes history takes things into its own hands.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Hands History
Today’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 MARSHALL

Black Constitution Enjoyment Fair Myself Ourselves Talk
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 MARSHALL

Death Fall Ignorance Life Poor Prison Privilege Society
The First Amendment serves not only the needs of the polity but also those of the human spirit – a spirit that demands self-expression .
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Expression Human Need Service Spirit
The measure of a country’s greatness is its ability to retain compassion in time of crisis.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Ability Compassionate Country Greatness Time
I cannot accept this invitation for I do not believe that the meaning of the Constitution was forever ‘fixed’ at the Philadelphia Convention… To the contrary, the government they devised was defective from the start. [Progressive]
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Acceptance Believe Constitution Forever Government Myself Start
I’m the world’s original gradualist. I just think ninety-odd years is gradual enough.
THURGOOD MARSHALL

Enough Myself Thinking World

History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure.

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History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure.

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Popular Authors

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