Supreme Court Diversity Research Paper

Armand Planter
U.S. History
March 20th,2017
Ms.Holifield

The Diversity of the Highest Court of the Land

For many years there has been a supreme court that was predominantly white. The first black man, or the non-white man was elected to the supreme court in the year of 1967. There were a bunch of barriers that you had to go through to be a supreme court justice especially if you were not white. Due to the fact that for many many years most of the supreme court justices were white. All of the justices thought and believed in the same thing from day to day. When you were put on the supreme court it was either because of the president, or it was because of the fact that they believed in the same thing. There was really no diversity

in the supreme court at this time. Everyone was that same and they also ruled that same as each other.
The government at this point was not up for it for the system to change. When it has been the same throughout the whole time that most people have been alive the did not want to believe that some one that was not white had the credentials for them to become one of the highest ranking officials of the land. It also simply came down to the fact that the government did not want a black or someone that was not white to be on the supreme court.
In the time that he was appointed as one of the associate justices, black people were being through a lot to the marches that they were doing and everything else. In this time if you were not fully white you had a lot of trouble becoming someone in power. Especially if you were trying to be on the highest court of the land. The diversity of the supreme court really wasn't a thing until thurgood marshall was appointed. He wasn’t appointed until the term of president L. Johnson's term and in the middle of G. Bush’s term. The attitude that the government had with thurgood marshall being appointed was the fact that they believed that he was not capable of upholding the law of the supreme court in some of the cases. They believed that he was going to be a judge that would not rule fairly for the cases that he would be given. Most of the judges that were oppintetted to the supreme court were not only white but none of them had to deal with any of the thing that thurgood had to go through. He had all of the credentials that he needed but the people did, were not ready for change. A Lot of them were afraid. Once thurgood was put in the chair as a justice he was thought of as someone that most kids looked up to. Despite the fact that we have a more diverse supreme court in recent history, it has not always been that way, as there was a time when Pre-1960s civil rights cases were not judged as fairly because of the lack of diversity that existed regarding the judges in the Supreme Court.
First, more diversity in the supreme court helps with the judgement of civil rights cases.

What influences was there due to the fact that there was more diversity in the supreme court, how did the civil rights movements that happened help with some of the ruling of the those cases? The Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964 was a movement that had a great impact on the fact that not all blacks were able to go and vote. The main purpose of this was so that they would be able to vote, and no one would be put apart from the voting, as in every black man and women were able to vote for who ever they wanted. How it got the name, “ mississippi freedom summer” was by the organization C.O.F.O., which stands for Council of Federated Organizations. This organization was the one to plan out the fact that there were over one hundred colleges students from in state and out of state you had people coming in to participate in the march. This was just one of the marches and movements that had made a huge impact on the way to look at things. The second movement was the movement in birmingham. Its really not a movement it is more of a campaign that happened. The Campaign was to bring awareness to not only police brutality but the fact that not everyone was getting treated equally in the sate of birmingham. That is where it gets its name called The Birmingham Campaign. At this time the police brutality of black men were real. Black men and women were trying to do everything that they possible can so that they could be heard. From anything to sit ins to marching down the street. They wanted to be heard, they wanted someone to notice them and the way they were treated. The organization SCLC was responsible for most of the action that were taking place they were the lead to all of this madness and mayhem that was going on. The SCLC was not publicly saying that they were running the show. They were the behind the scenes person (New world

encyclopedia).
The United States constitution had another big influence on theses terms. The 14th amendment was part of the constitution that somewhat forced all of the segregation in the south to stop. There were 14 states that were were ordered under the 14th amendment to have the african americans be equal to everyone else. A case that played a major role in a lot of the people in the south's life was the Plessy vs. Ferguson case. The case comes from an incident where a man by the name of homer plessy had refused to sit in a Jim crow car. A Jim Crow Car the was separate from the other cars, mainly for African American women. In this time of this incident it was against the law in the state of Louisiana to not get up and move to a different car. The ferguson comes from the judge that overlooked the case. The case was judged by judge ferguson in criminal court in the state of New Orleans, which he upheld the case using the state law. The case went up to the supreme court. The supreme court said the law was challenged in the supreme court on grounds that it conflicted with the thirteenth and fourteenth amendment. This is why restrictive legislation based on the color of your skin continued the plessy decision, and the reason for not overturning until the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954. (history.org)
The last thing that was important was the Selma and the Voting Right Act of (1965) (New world). This was a voter registration campaign that took place in selma by the organization Know as the SNCC. This was another thing way to make the civil rights act that was put into place more known. Even though it forbid discrimination there was still things that black men and women had to go through in order to vote. It was so that the states could not enforce there law that if a black man or women wanted to vote that they had to pass through all of these test and things to prove and see if they are able to vote or not. If a african man or women wanted to vote the would go to this registration place and ask to take a test. Sometime the would be rejected on purpose if the person that graded it had an attitude. During this time there really wasn't a lot of machines that grade stuff automatically. If you didn’t pass the first time you would have to come back again whenever they told you you could come back and take it. These are just some of the things that had influenced some of the decisions on why we should have a more diverse supreme court.
Secondly, a man that was one of the first of his kind to be elected into the supreme court. The supreme court is the highest court of the land and he had to fight his way to his seat at the table. He goes by the name of Thurgood Marshall. President Lyndon Johnson appointed a U.S. appeals Judge by the name of thurgood marshall. He wanted him to be an Associates judge. In the year of August 30th 1967 after there was a major debate in the senate it was confirmed that thurgood got a nomination by the senate. The results of the vote was 69 to 11. Two days after that he was sworn in by the chief justice. At this time it made him to be the first African American judge in history to sit in the high chair of a judge in the land.
Lastly, having a more diverse supreme court leads to the right ruling of cases. Despite the fact that the supreme court was given so many cases did the diversity help the cases be judged fairly. The first court case that demonstrated that every child should be able to go to the same school not matter there skin color was Brown v Board of education. This was a case that was put in front of the supreme court and they said that having the separate schools in the south is unconstitutional. Even though the courts had decided to desegregate the school, the people in the south did not want there schools to be separate. This case was one of the main sparks in the civil rights movement. It also broke some of the state issued segregation laws saying that, black and white people don't have to use the same facilities and that they don't need to go to the same schools, that they are allowed to be separate. The supreme court cut that down. They made it so that no state could put into place, that it is not a necessity. Even though the law says that the states can go along and use the law or the bill as they want and they can pick it apart. The supreme court put a stop to them saying that it was ok for them to do it. (supreme court archives). Without there being a black man on the supreme court at this time the schools would have never been combined were white and black people could go to school together. This is the exact reason why having a black man on the supreme court helps because he gives his side even though he is overpowered by white men he still has a say son in what goes on and can still give some of his opinions. The last case that demonstrates African americans being free to own property was the case Shelley v. Kramer. This case was about whether or not we should let black men own there own property or should they not be allowed to own there property. This case all started from a white family and a black family debating whether or not the black family could own land.
Despite the fact that we have a more diverse supreme court in recent history, it has not always been that way, as there was a time when Pre-1960s civil rights cases were not judged as fairly because of the lack of diversity that existed regarding the judges in the Supreme Court.