Defective: Imperfect in form or function. –Mirriam-Webster Dictionary
The story goes that young Thurgood Marshall, in trouble at school, was sent by the principal down to the basement with a copy of the U.S. Constitution, which he was told to read and memorize. ”Before I left that school,” Marshall later said, “I knew the whole thing by heart!” By the age of 16, Marshall claimed to have had the document memorized, and this early exposure to the Constitution fueled Marshall’s desire to become a lawyer.
His father, William was a railroad porter, but he was fascinated by the law. Marshall remembered his father taking him to court to watch trials together in Baltimore. And in their Baltimore house they would argue law and discuss the codification of slavery that was written into the Constitution. On that they could agree. The document, as written, was imperfect, which was why the Founding Fathers provided for an Amendment process.
Unable to attend the University of Maryland Law School because of his race, Marshall went on to graduate magna cum laude from Howard University School of Law in 1933, passed the Maryland Bar that same year, then successfully sued the University of Maryland Law School for refusing to admit blacks. It was an impressive accomplishment for a lawyer still in his twenties, and one who would go on to win 29 of the 32 cases that he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Yesterday, Michael Steele, Chairman of the RNC criticized President Obama’s choice of Elena Kagan for the U.S. Supreme Court (a former Marshall Clerk) for her support of Marshall’s 1987 speech in which he described the Constitution, as originally drafted and conceived, as “defective.”
It’s unclear what Michael Steele was reading when he was a young man. If it was the U.S. Constitution, it likely did not impact him the way it did a young Thurgood Marshall living in Baltimore. With all of the advantages made possible by Marshall when he filed suits across the country to permit inspired and emboldened African-Americans (who often risked their lives) to receive the same educational opportunities as white Americans, Steele failed in his attempt to pass the Maryland Bar.
