A litigation career path to the Supreme Court differed in class origins
Evidence
Thurgood Marshall, probably the most important American lawyer of the twentieth century, came from less prosperous circumstances. The great-grandson of a slave, Marshall was born in 1908, a year later than Powell, in Baltimore, Maryland. His parents—a club steward and an elementary school teacher—stressed education. To help pay his college expenses, his mother sold her engagement ring. Marshall repaid this confidence by excelling in his studies at Lincoln University and then at Howard University Law School, where he graduated first in his class. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 603
Categorization
- XREF: Pairs with Powell’s biography to show career diversification on the Court, relevant to how justices’ backgrounds shape interpretive approaches. — connects to: Regional culture, not selection method, explains interstate differences in judge backgrounds