William Rehnquist's StoryI have known Thurgood Marshall for years and years, and it has been my absolute pleasure to have done so. I first came to really know Marshall when I was appointed as a Justice on the Supreme Court, with Marshall entering the Court a few years prior to me. Marshall and I have not really been political allies throughout my career--in fact, I have always been an ardent conservative and he has been a outspoken progressivist. However, his true passion for justice and desire for doing the "right thing" has always been inspiring to me, whether I was an Associate Justice or a Chief Justice. He was motivated by what he truly believed in and wished our culture to become. While some of us conservatives do accuse him of judicial activism--he famously said "You do what you think is right and let the law catch up"--we nonetheless respect his ardent push for progressive change. I deeply admire his courage as a lawyer, judge, and Civil Rights giant who, in many ways, molded our society more than any other before him. Under his guidance, "the American constitutional landscape in the area of equal protection of the laws was literally rewritten," as I have said before. As a result of his ambition for justice, Thurgood Marshall accomplished his hope for Equal justice under law. As the Court became increasingly more conservative and conservative during the 70s and 80s and Marshall was left as one of the last progressives, Marshall staunchly defended the rights of criminal suspects, women, and other minorities. Although his views differed strongly from mine, I looked up to his indefatigable, indomitable style as one that brought new flavor to the Court and the Country.
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