In 1963, President John F. Kennedy called for paid lawyers in federal courts. The modern federal defense system has received support from Senators Edward M. Kennedy, Roman Hruska and Barry Goldwater. Although the Declaration of Independence declared that “all men are created equal,” this declaration would not be enshrined in law in the United States until after the Civil War (and presumably not fully fulfilled for many years thereafter). In 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified, eventually ending slavery. In addition, the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) strengthened the legal rights of newly freed slaves by stipulating, among other things, that no state may deprive anyone of “due process” or “equal protection of the law.” Finally, the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) further strengthened the legal rights of newly freed slaves by prohibiting states from denying anyone the right to vote on the basis of race. Disappointed that the University of Maryland Law School rejected black applicants solely because of their race, Thurgood Marshall (who himself was rejected by that law school because of its policy of racial acceptance) decided to challenge this practice in Maryland`s court system. In a Baltimore court in 1935, Marshall argued that Donald Gaines Murray was just as qualified as white applicants to attend University of Maryland Law School, and that he had been rejected solely because of his race. In addition, he argued that since the “black” law schools Murray would otherwise have to attend were nowhere near the same academic calibre as the university`s law school, the university violated the principle of “separate but equal.” In addition, Marshall argued that the differences between “white” and “black” law schools were so great that the only remedy would be to allow students like Murray to attend the university`s law school. The Baltimore City Court agreed, and the university appealed to the Maryland Court of Appeals. In 1936, the Court of Appeal also ruled in Murray`s favour and ordered the law school to admit him. Two years later, Murray graduated.
Unfortunately, following the Plessy decision in the early twentieth century, the Supreme Court continued to uphold the legality of Jim Crow laws and other forms of racial discrimination. For example, in Cumming v. Richmond (Ga.) County Board of Education (1899), the court refused to issue an injunction preventing a school board from spending taxpayers` money on a white high school when the same school board voted to close a black high school for financial reasons. Furthermore, in Gong Lum v. Rice (1927), the court upheld a school`s decision to exclude a person of Chinese descent from a “white” school. Beginning in 1909, a small group of activists organized and founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). They fought a long struggle to eliminate racial discrimination and segregation from American life. In the mid-twentieth century, they focused on the legal challenges of segregation in public schools. Two major Supreme Court victories in 1950 led the NAACP to a direct attack on Plessy and the so-called “separate but equal” doctrine. But the defense system, like the rest of the federal judiciary, also faces funding problems and heavily tightened criminal laws, which many defense attorneys say punish defendants for asserting their right to a jury trial. DISCLAIMER: These resources are created by the U.S.
Courts Administrative Office for educational purposes only. They may not reflect the current state of the law and are not intended to provide legal advice, advice on litigation or commentary on pending cases or laws. While a guilty verdict is likely, defense attorneys said it`s important to see clients as human beings, not stereotypes. On June 11, after the altercation with Governor George Wallace (1919-1998) at the University of Alabama, President Kennedy appeared on national television at 8:00 p.m. to announce his intention to introduce a civil rights bill in Congress. In a partly improvised impromptu speech, he described civil rights as “a moral issue. as old as Scripture and as clear as the U.S. Constitution. He highlighted issues of suffrage, public housing, desegregation in schools and high black unemployment. Acknowledging the urgency of the moment, Kennedy warned: “The fires of frustration and discord are burning in every city, north and south, where there is no legal recourse at hand.” Later that evening, NAACP Secretary Medgar Evers was murdered outside his home in Jackson, Mississippi. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was formed in April 1960 to coordinate the widespread student protests initiated by the sit-in in Greensboro, North Carolina.
