Free Republic

Amid the current national debate over immigration policies, racial discrimination, LGBTQ rights, and executive power, the anniversary of an important legal and political dispute that has directly shaped that debate will pass quietly, its legacy all but forgotten. In September 1958, sixty years ago next week, the United States Supreme Court finally earned its hard-fought reputation as a co-equal branch of the federal government, in a courtroom drama filled with urgency and uncertainty. For perhaps the first time, the high court put muscle behind its mandate, asserting in unequivocal terms that its interpretation of the Constitution was the "supreme law...

After not appearing in the museum for most of its inaugural year, Clarence Thomas now has a spot in the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Linda St. Thomas, chief spokesperson for the Smithsonian Institution, said the museum installed an exhibition case called “The Supreme Court” honoring both black justices who have sat upon the nation’s highest court.

Juan Williams is one of America’s best journalists. He’s also an accomplished author and historian of the civil rights movement. Among his achievements: * a biography of Supreme Court Justice (and civil rights litigator) Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary; * Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965; and * Muzzled: The Assault on Honest Debate. So it’s especially telling, I think, to hear what Williams thinks of the smear campaign against Herman Cain. Williams appeared on Fox News’ Hannity Friday night, and his outrage and disappointment was palpable. Juan Williams: The whole idea is he’s a token; he’s a...

The attack on The Tea Party is the start. The "spitting" is another step. All the things the Liberals are saying are leading up to it. The Militia arrests I feel will find Tea Party Pamplets..etc...

Are only liberals fitting nominees to a traditional “black seat” on the Supreme Court? Did the nomination of the conservative Clarence Thomas somehow kill off the “black seat” tradition? Chris Matthews seemed to suggest as much on this afternoon’s Hardball. Along the way, Matthews analogized Thomas to Abe Fortas, a nominee who ultimately withdrew his name when ethical issues arose. Matthews made his murky comment while discussing the prospects for David Souter’s replacement with Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.). View video here.

RICHMOND, Va. - A senator who had singled out an Indian man at a campaign event and referred to him as "Macaca" declined a leadership award from a minority scholarship fund Thursday after donors protested his selection. Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund donors had threatened to withhold contributions if Sen. George Allen, a Republican seeking re-election this fall, received the fund's Community Leadership Award. "The foundation told the senator that they've been catching a lot of static from members and some of their donors, and before it spins into a week of controversy, we just decided to decline it," Allen spokesman...

RICHMOND, Va. Senator George Allen is declining an award from a minority scholarship fund after an outcry over his selection for the honor. The Republican seeking re-election decided to forgo the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund's Community Leadership Award he was to receive next week after being told donors to the fund threatened to withhold contributions if he received it. Allen said in a statement that he regrets that -- quote -- "there are those who would put their personal or political dislike for him ahead of the needs of deserving students." Allen's decision came almost three weeks after he singled...

The Episcopal Diocese of Washington is proposing that the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall be made a saint. Marshall was part of the court majority in the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling, having successfully convinced Justice Harry Blackmun (the author of the decision) to expand the legalization of abortion throughout the third trimester of pregnancy. The Diocese intends to ask the 2006 General Convention to include Marshall, who died in 1993, in the book of "Lesser Feasts and Fasts." "Thurgood Marshall is a saint already in the Bay Area," says the Bishop of California, the Rt. Rev. William Swing,...

NEW YORK (AP) - Episcopalians from a church where the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall worshipped are asking their denomination to name him a saint. Marshall, who died in 1993, was a towering figure in the civil rights movement and the first black justice to sit on the nation's highest court. Members of St. Augustine's Church in Washington, D.C., will seek initial approval for the honor Friday from delegates to the convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. Two consecutive meetings of the denomination's national legislature - which gathers every three years - will then consider the proposal. "His...

In 1961, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, John F. Kennedy was at the very beginning of his term. But the reforms had already begun. State-sponsored segregation was under attack from not only the executive branch but also from firebrand upstarts situated just north and south of the Mason-Dixon line. One of these- the most successful- was a black man named Thurgood Marshall. He was barely out of Howard University in 1933 when the civil rights movement swept him up and carried him to national renown. Beginning out of his small private practice in Baltimore and then, in 1940,...

In 1961, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, John F. Kennedy was at the very beginning of his term. But the reforms had already begun. State-sponsored segregation was under attack from not only the executive branch but also from firebrand upstarts situated just north and south of the Mason-Dixon line. One of these- the most successful- was a black man named Thurgood Marshall. He was barely out of Howard University in 1933 when the civil rights movement swept him up and carried him to national renown. Beginning out of his small private practice in Baltimore and then, in 1940,...

HYPOCRITIC OATH Kennedy's record: Tale of 2 Teddies 2005: Answer the questions 1967: Nominees could 'defer' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: July 29, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Judge John Roberts When it comes to insisting Supreme Court nominees discuss how they would rule on future cases, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., has apparently done a philosophical U-turn. The senator has been vocal recently about President Bush's nominee John Roberts, saying the federal judge "will be expected to answer fully" any questions about his views on controversial issues; but the Democrat sang a different tune in 1967, when he noted that candidates...

Baltimore Airport Renamed for Marshall By GRETCHEN PARKER, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 20 minutes ago ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The governor signed a bill Tuesday renaming Baltimore-Washington International Airport for Thurgood Marshall, the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Beginning Oct. 1, the airport will be known as Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich signed the bill as civil rights leaders and lawmakers looked on. "Our purpose is to honor a great mind who did the most to end legal segregation in America," said state Delegate Emmett Burns, a Baptist minister who introduced the bill.

"The bill's sponsor, Baltimore County Delegate Emmett Burns Jr., D-District 10, believes race played a role in the resistance. "He's African-American and a great man, and they have a problem with that. Need I say more?" Burns said."

Weighing in at six words, 55 letters and a tongue-twisting 17 syllables, the proposed new name for BWI Airport, everyone seems to agree, is an orthographical behemoth. Thurgood Marshall Baltimore-Washington International Airport -- the name proposed in legislation making its way through the Maryland General Assembly -- would, few dispute, appropriately honor one of Maryland's most revered sons. The change would cost the state at least $2.1 million, according to preliminary estimates.

Tom Daschle may be gone, but his method isn't forgotten. At least not by his successor as Senate Minority Leader, Harry Reid, who got his tenure off to a rousing start on Sunday by calling Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas an "embarrassment," who writes "poorly" besides. We doubt this was a slip of the tongue. By attacking Mr. Thomas personally and suggesting he's not too bright, Mr. Reid was signaling to President Bush that if he promotes Mr. Thomas to Chief Justice the fight will be mean and bloody and not limited to Constitutional issues. Democrats will try to destroy...

Good news if true. No indication of what poll. Hopefully not GAllup since the PResident will hopefully have a larger lead in Gallup.