Thurgood Marshall, Jr.

Thurgood Marshall, Jr. "has devoted much of his legal career to public service. He began his legal career as a law clerk to the United States District Judge Barri D. Parker. Later, Marshall Jr. served as a Counsel with the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, as well as the Governmental Affairs Committee. Marshall Jr. worked with then Senator Al Gore in the Senate and then as the Director of Legislative Affairs and Deputy Counsel for Vice President Gore. From 1997 to 2001, he served as Cabinet Secretary and Assistant to the President. Marshall Jr. was the liaison between the President and the agencies of the Executive Branch. Although Marshall Jr. has had an illustrious career serving the public, he is most widely known as the son of United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall...

"The victory in Brown was the crowning achievement in Thurgood Marshall's career as a lawyer. When asked about what he remembered of the Brown decision and the lawyers that worked on it, Marshall Jr. reflects that his father described the work and atmosphere with the other NAACP Legal Defense Fund lawyers working on the case as one of "frenetic collegiality." That collegiality was also underscored by an intelligent mastery of a craft. In fact, Marshall Jr. finds that the Brown decision serves to highlight the craft of lawyering. Whether in context of the remedies crafted or the continuing jurisdiction that the Court maintained, he finds that there was a level of craftsmanship reflected in the decision that is in itself a legacy...

"Over the last 10 years, Marshall Jr. has dedicated his own time to the impact of environmental conservation in under served communities. Currently working with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Marshall Jr. is trying to impress upon our youth the importance of environmental sciences and hard sciences."


 * Director, Corrections Corporation of America
 * Director, National Women's Law Center
 * Trustee, Third Way organization
 * Trustee, Ford Foundation