Tax Relief Extension Reconciliation Act of 2005

TAX RELIEF EXTENSION RECONCILIATION ACT OF 2005 -- (Senate - February 02, 2006)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I rise today, in recognition of the beginning of Black History Month, in support of a bill to posthumously award a congressional gold medal to Constance Baker Motley, an American hero who, sadly, passed away on September 28, 2005, after having lived an extraordinary and exemplary life. I am pleased to introduce this bill along with my colleague from New York, Senator Clinton.

Constance Baker Motley was the first African-American woman, and only the fifth woman, to serve on the Federal judiciary. Before becoming a judge, she was a renowned civil rights lawyer, public servant, and trailblazer. Her remarkable career reads like a civil rights history book.

After earning her bachelor of arts degree in Economics from New York University and her law degree from Columbia University, Judge Motley joined Thurgood Marshall at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. For two decades, Judge Motley worked closely with Marshall and other leading civil rights lawyers to dismantle desegregation throughout the country.

As a Black woman practicing law in the South, Judge Motley endured gawking and physical threats. But she was not deterred.

She won cases that ended segregation in Memphis restaurants and at Whites-only lunch counters in Birmingham, AL. She fought for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s right to march in Albany, GA, and visited him in jail whenever he was arrested.

Judge Motley was the only woman on the legal team that won the landmark desegregation case, Brown v. Board of Education. She went on to argue 10 major civil rights cases before the Supreme Court, winning all but one of them, including James Meredith's fight to gain admission to the University of Mississippi.

Before she died, Judge Motley would grin when she told people that she actually won 20 years later the only Supreme Court case that she lost, when the Court eventually agreed with her position and adopted her reasoning in holding that it was a violation of equal protection for prosecutors to use their peremptory challenges to strike Blacks from a jury because of their race.

In 1964, Judge Motley became the first African-American woman elected to the New York State Senate, and in 1965, she became the first African-American woman, and first woman, to serve as a city borough president. During this time, Judge Motley worked tirelessly to revitalize the inner city and improve urban housing and public schools.

In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Judge Motley to the Southern District of New York. She was confirmed 9 months later, over the strong opposition of Southern Senators. As a judge, Motley continued her commitment to social justice.

She rose to the position of Chief Judge in 1982, and assumed senior status 4 years later. Judge Motley served with distinction for nearly four decades, until she passed away last fall, at the age of 84. At that time, I was pleased to introduce a Senate resolution, which passed by unanimous consent with 27 Democrat and Republican cosponsors, to honor her life and achievements.

Since then, our country has lost two other great civil rights heroes, Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King. Both of these remarkable women were awarded congressional gold medals for their leadership and contributions to American society while they were alive. I deeply regret that Judge Motley was not. But it is not too late for us to show our national appreciation to her friends and family. Congressional gold medals are reserved expressly for that purpose, and Judge Motley's lifelong commitment to the advancement of civil rights and social justice, and her lengthy career in public service, is worthy of just that.

The Senate Banking Committee requires 67 cosponsors before it will consider legislation to award a congressional gold medal. I am pleased to introduce this bill with 16 other original cosponsors from both sides of the aisle. I now call on all of my Senate colleagues to join us this Black History Month to give thanks on behalf of the country to one of our greatest civil rights leaders and public servants, Judge Constance Baker Motley.

I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

http://thomas.loc.gov/