U. S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor

Associate Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Byron White
wrote after Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall retired
about the powerful influence he had through the stories
he told in the private conferences of the Judges.

As a young lawyer he traveled throughout the South
to represent black defendants who often faced a
white prosecutor, white judge and all white
jury.

If his white colleagues had not thought
much about how race could infect
the criminal justice system, 
Marshall made sure they
understood.

 

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