Berks County Bar Association The Berks Barrister Spring 2018 - 19

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One of a Kind
During his twenty-four years on the Supreme Court,
Justice Marshall wrote 322 majority opinions and 363
dissents. In his book, Haygood notes: "No justice had
come to the high court with the background he possessed
in traveling the land and fighting from courthouse to
courthouse...He was an evangelist on behalf of the law."37
Haygood continues about Justice Marshall: "His
were the eyes that had seen, up close, men and women
grasping for freedom. He had seen shack-like structures
masquerading as Negro schoolhouses. He had heard the
wails of Negro mothers crying for their sons who had
been sentenced on suspicious rape charges. He had seen
how poverty could scar both Negro and white alike. His
were the eyes that had seen what very few Ivy Leaguetrained lawyers had seen..."38 Unfortunately, we have
not had a justice with his background in trial advocacy for
the oppressed since and it is highly unlikely we will ever
benefit from that unique perspective again in the future.
On March 6, 2018, my son and I attended a panel
discussion in the Supreme Court Chamber titled "A Look
Back at Justice Thurgood Marshall." The panel included
four of his former law clerks, including Justice Elena
Kagan. It was an evening of interesting and revealing
stories about a giant of the law.
Senior Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg of the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the District of Columbia spoke of the time
Justice Marshall took his law clerks to lunch over the
holidays. They walked into the seafood restaurant with the
Justice leading the way. As the patrons recognized him,
they each began to stand until they were all standing in
silent tribute.
Judge Ginsburg: "It showed the magnitude of the
man."

37
38

Id. 343.

Id. 344.

THE
FOURTEENTH

By William W. Runyeon

We shall not have different
categories of citizens; with blood
drawn by the lash, and paid by the sword,
slavery was destroyed.
Yet, what was to come next?
Centuries of unequal treatment
under the law do not pass away
with the stroke of a pen,
a smattering of altruistic impulses;
gestures do not alter the fabric
of society; and change, once implemented,
drives a course separate from intention;
time and time again, an altered course,
a tribal will that fights the better
angels of our nature, to retain power,
to retain power, as if that were
a moral imperative.
The Thirteenth Amendment
outlawed slavery, finally, but what
comes next? Equality under the law.
Thus it is written in the Fourteenth,
which was fought with Jim Crow,
which, in turn, was smitten a mighty blow
by Brown v. Board of Education.
Without struggle, there is no progress.
People are different, and
recognizing that is a good thing,
so that fairness is possible.
Unfairness under the law
is not a good thing:
it is a debilitating distortion.
The second great effort to
mitigate that distortion
was the Fourteenth Amendment,
an achievement to be celebrated:
equal protection of the law.
A lofty goal, still in
process of achievement.
And that is the great gift
of America: still in process
of achievement.

Spring 2018 | 19

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Berks County Bar Association The Berks Barrister Spring 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Berks County Bar Association The Berks Barrister Spring 2018