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 Con-
stance Baker Motley, a judge for the United States Dis-
trict Court, Southern District of New York. 
Whereas Constance Baker Motley was born in 1921, in New 
Haven, Connecticut, the ninth of 12 children of immi-
grants 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 be-
came 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 in-
surance 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 full- 
fledged 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 attor-
ney on the legal team that won the landmark desegrega-
tion 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 Mere-
dith challenging the University of Mississippi’s refusal to 
admit him; 
Whereas, on October 16, 1961, Constance Baker Motley ar-
gued Hamilton v. Alabama before the United States Su-
preme Court, a case involving the right to counsel in cap-
ital 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 success-
fully argued the case of Watson v. City of Memphis be-
fore the United States Supreme Court, a case which de-
feated 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 tran-
sition 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 Rev-
erend 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 over-
turned 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 sit- 
in conduct which had occurred prior to the passage of 
Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 but was pros-
ecuted 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-Amer-
ican 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-Amer-
ican 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 elect-
ed 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 hous-
ing; 
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 urg-
ing of Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York, a Demo-
crat, 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 ap-
pointment 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 in-
spirational autobiography, ‘‘Equal Justice Under Law: 
The Life of a Pioneer for Black Civil Rights and Wom-
en’s Rights’’; 
Whereas Judge Kimba Wood, a former colleague of Con-
stance 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 al-
most constant condescension from our profession due to 
her being an African-American woman.’’; 
Whereas Constance Baker Motley was inducted into the Na-
tional 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 distin-
guished 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 Amer-
ica.’’; 
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 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) acknowledges the lifelong service of Con-
stance Baker Motley to the United States as a tal-
ented civil rights lawyer, dedicated public servant, 
and skillful jurist; and 
(2) commends Constance Baker Motley for— 
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(A) her 39-year tenure on the United 
States District Court for the Southern District 
of New York; and 
(B) her lifelong commitment to the ad-
vancement of civil rights and social justice. 
Æ 
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