Constance Baker Motley

  • Vol. 117, No. 7

ON JUDGE MOTLEY AND THE SECOND CIRCUIT

Raymond J. Lohier, Jr.*

Introduction Constance Baker Motley hardly needs an introduction in American civil rights circles. The first African American female attorney (and only the second female attorney) to join the storied NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) in 1946 (after graduating from Columbia Law School), Motley was a legendary civil rights lawyer by the time she joined the […]

  • Vol. 117, No. 7

EQUAL PROTECTION AS A VEHICLE FOR EQUAL ACCESS AND OPPORTUNITY: CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY AND THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT IN EDUCATION CASES

George B. Daniels* & Rachel Pereira**

Introduction Constance Baker Motley, the first female attorney of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF), was dedicated to reimagining the nature and scope of civil rights protections in American jurisprudence. Motley’s legal career chronicles the ways in which litigation served to bring about revolutionary social changes in our society. Motley, a staunch believer in the […]

  • Vol. 117, No. 7

Constance Baker Motley, James Meredith, and the University of Mississippi

Denny Chin* & Kathy Hirata Chin**

Introduction In 1961, James Meredith applied for admission to the University of Mississippi. Although he was eminently qualified, he was rejected. The University had never admitted a black student, and Meredith was black. Represented by Constance Baker Motley and the NAACP Legal De­fense and Educational Fund (LDF), Meredith brought suit in the United States District […]

  • Vol. 117, No. 7

Identity Matters: The Case of Judge Constance Baker Motley

Tomiko Brown-Nagin*

Mrs. Motley’s reputation has always been excellent . . . . [S]he is a woman, with great humanitarian instinct, but I have never seen it to disturb her judgment objectively and on questions of law. –U.S. Senator Jacob Javits (1966) Introduction Is justice truly blind—rendered without regard to wealth, race, sex, or other background characteristics? For centuries, that compelling […]