MR. JUSTICE MURPHY AND CIVIL RIGHTS

Authors

Thurgood Marshall, Special Counsel, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; member, Maryland bar

Abstract

There is constant danger that the unpopularity of an individual, or of the group of which he is a member, will be reflected in dealings with his rights by his neighbors or by the organized community. In America today this bias is most likely to stern from differences of race, origin, nationality, or religious or political belief. Prejudice may victimize an entire group or any of its members. Any charge of shocking or anti-social conduct against one who is already thus unpopular increases the likelihood of unfair treatment. Not only private citizens, but legislators, judges and administrative officers of government are prone to such prejudicial attitudes and behavior.

To secure those thus disadvantaged against imposition is a major function of the Constitution and of the Supreme Court as the final exponent and enforcer of fundamental law and its supremacy.

Recommended Citation

Thurgood Marshall, MR. JUSTICE MURPHY AND CIVIL RIGHTS, 48 Mich. L. Rev. 745 (1950).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol48/iss6/7