IV 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 271 
Honoring the life and accomplishments of Judge Constance Baker Motley 
and recognizing her as a symbol of hope and inspiration for all men 
and women. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 20, 2005 
Mr. MEEKS of New York (for himself, Mr. RANGEL, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Ms. 
EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. NORTON, Ms. MILLENDER- 
MCDONALD, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. WATT, Mr. 
ABERCROMBIE, Mr. SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. FILNER, Mr. MCDERMOTT, 
Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, and Ms. 
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ) submitted the following concurrent resolution; 
which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Honoring the life and accomplishments of Judge Constance 
Baker Motley and recognizing her as a symbol of hope 
and inspiration for all men and women. 
Whereas Constance Baker Motley died from congestive heart 
failure on September 28, 2005, at age 84; 
Whereas Constance Baker Motley was born on September 14, 
1921, in New Haven, Connecticut; 
Whereas Constance Baker Motley earned a B.A. degree in ec-
onomics from New York University and a law degree 
from Columbia Law School;
•HCON 271 IH 
Whereas Constance Baker Motley volunteered for the 
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and, in 
1945, she was hired as a law clerk for the NAACP’s chief 
counsel, Thurgood Marshall; 
Whereas Constance Baker Motley served as a civil rights law-
yer in nearly every landmark civil rights case for two dec-
ades; 
Whereas Constance Baker Motley handled housing cases for 
a civil rights group working to eliminate barriers pre-
venting blacks from settling in white neighborhoods; 
Whereas, from 1945 to 1964, Constance Baker Motley 
worked on major school segregation cases, including 
Brown v. Board of Education; 
Whereas, while serving as associate counsel with the NAACP 
Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Constance Baker 
Motley won nine out of the ten civil rights cases she ar-
gued before the Supreme Court, including a victory in 
1962, when the Supreme Court upheld James Meredith’s 
right to be admitted to the University of Mississippi; 
Whereas Constance Baker Motley was instrumental in rep-
resenting blacks seeking admission to University of Flor-
ida, University of Georgia, University of Alabama, Uni-
versity of Mississippi, and Clemson College in South 
Carolina; 
Whereas Constance Baker Motley won cases that ended seg-
regation in Memphis, Tennessee, and Birmingham, Ala-
bama; 
Whereas, when the local school board in Birmingham, Ala-
bama, expelled 1000 students for demonstrating, Con-
stance Baker Motley successfully argued for the students’ 
reinstatement;
•HCON 271 IH 
Whereas Constance Baker Motley represented the ‘‘Freedom 
Riders’’, who rode buses to test the application of the Su-
preme Court decision prohibiting segregation in interstate 
transportation; 
Whereas Constance Baker Motley visited Dr. Martin Luther 
King, Jr., in jail and successfully represented him in his 
legal fight for the right to march in Georgia; 
Whereas Constance Baker Motley spent a night under armed 
guard with Medgar Evers, a civil rights leader who was 
later murdered; 
Whereas, in 1966, President Johnson appointed Constance 
Baker Motley to the United States District Court for the 
Southern District of New York, making her the first 
black woman to be appointed as a Federal judge; 
Whereas, in 1982, Constance Baker Motley was elevated to 
Chief Judge, and, in 1986, she was certified as a senior 
judge; 
Whereas Constance Baker Motley served as a Federal judge 
for the United States District Court for the Southern 
District of New York for nearly 40 years; 
Whereas Constance Baker Motley was the first black woman 
to serve in the New York State Senate; and 
Whereas, in 1965, Constance Baker Motley was the first 
black woman to be appointed as Manhattan Borough 
President, where she established a program to revitalize 
Harlem and East Harlem, secured $700,000 for under-
privileged areas of the city, and worked to integrate the 
public schools system: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That the Congress—
•HCON 271 IH 
(1) honors the extraordinary life and accom-
plishments of Judge Constance Baker Motley; and 
(2) recognizes her as a symbol of hope and in-
spiration for all men and women. 
Æ