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Remarks Made At The Second Circuit Judicial Conference, September 8, 1989, Thurgood Marshall

Trotter Review

For many years, no institution of American government has been as close a friend to civil rights as the United States Supreme Court. Make no mistake: I do not mean for a moment to denigrate the quite considerable contributions to the enhancement of civil rights by presidents, the Congress, other federal courts, and the legislatures and judiciaries of many states. It is now 1989, however, and we must recognize that the Court's approach to civil rights cases has changed markedly. The most recent Supreme Court opinions vividly illustrate this changed judicial attitude. In Richmond v. Croson, the Court took …