IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 148 

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 10, 2009 

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, 


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•HRES 148 IH 

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 fullfledged 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; 


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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; 


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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 sitin 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 


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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 


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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 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) acknowledges the lifelong service of Con3 stance Baker Motley to the United States as a tal4 ented civil rights lawyer, dedicated public servant, 

5 and skillful jurist; and 

6 (2) commends Constance Baker Motley for— 


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1 (A) her 39-year tenure on the United 

2 States District Court for the Southern District 

3 of New York; and 

4 (B) her lifelong commitment to the ad5 vancement of civil rights and social justice. 

Æ 


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