00CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 21(JUD)                                                                               
01 Honoring Thurgood Marshall, 1908 - 1993.                                                                                
02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
03  WHEREAS Thurgood Marshall was committed to the belief that the United States                                           
04 Constitution protects the rights of all Americans; and                                                                  
05  WHEREAS Thurgood Marshall devoted his life to protecting the civil rights of                                           
06 individuals and was a tireless leader in the legal battle to eliminate racial discrimination and                        
07 promote human rights and equal opportunity; and                                                                         
08  WHEREAS Thurgood Marshall graduated with honors from Howard University Law                                             
09 School in 1933; and                                                                                                     
10  WHEREAS, as a lawyer, Thurgood Marshall took the lead in challenging whites-only                                       
11 primary elections and explicit racial discrimination in housing; and                                                    
12  WHEREAS, during his 25 years as legal counsel for the National Association for the                                     
13 Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Thurgood Marshall won 29 of the 32 cases that                                    
14 he argued before the United States Supreme Court; and                                                                   

01  WHEREAS Thurgood Marshall's most famous case, while legal counsel for the                                              
02 NAACP, was the landmark Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka school desegregation case                                 
03 in which a unanimous United States Supreme Court "outlawed" racial segregation in public                                
04 education and overruled the outmoded doctrine that allowed "separate but equal" education                               
05 for black children in public schools; and                                                                               
06  WHEREAS the appointment of Thurgood Marshall to the United States Supreme                                              
07 Court by President Lyndon Johnson in 1967 followed a successful legal career as a civil rights                          
08 attorney, court of appeals judge, and United States Solicitor General; and                                              
09  WHEREAS Thurgood Marshall was the first African-American to serve on the United                                        
10 States Supreme Court; and                                                                                               
11  WHEREAS Thurgood Marshall served 24 years on the United States Supreme Court;                                          
12 and                                                                                                                     
13  WHEREAS, as a Justice on the United States Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall                                            
14 sought to protect people from governmental infringement of their rights to fair and equal                               
15 treatment under the law, free speech, due process, and privacy; and                                                     
16  WHEREAS Thurgood Marshall supported affirmative action programs, legal                                                 
17 protections for criminal defendants and the poor, and the rights of women; and                                          
18  WHEREAS President Bill Clinton has said of Thurgood Marshall, "Every American                                          
19 should be grateful for the contributions he has made as an advocate and as a justice of the                             
20 United States Supreme Court."; and                                                                                      
21  WHEREAS Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor also said of Thurgood                                                
22 Marshall, "We've lost a true American hero.  He left behind a legacy of hope of racial                                  
23 equality."; and                                                                                                         
24  WHEREAS Thurgood Marshall died January 24, 1993;                                                                       
25  BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature joins the Nation in mourning                                          
26 the passing of Thurgood Marshall; and be it                                                                             
27  FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature salutes and honors                                                  
28 Thurgood Marshall, a great American, and hopes that his life will be an inspiration to all                              
29 Americans to strive against injustice and discrimination wherever they are found.                                       
30  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to Mrs. Cecilia Suyat Marshall; and the                                        
31 Honorable William H. Rehnquist, Chief Justice, United States Supreme Court.