Former Chief Justice Earl Warren Speaks Out Against Discrimination
Earl Warren, who retired the previous year as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, published an op-ed piece in the New York Times on this day, urging the U.S. to eliminate discrimination in all of its forms.
In his first year on the Court, Warren as Chief Justice made a special effort to secure a unanimous decision in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education, on May 17, 1954, which held that racially segregated schools were unconstitutional.
Warren: “There can be no other answer to our problem than to wipe out the discrimination for which we have become so notorious . . . .”
Read: Jim Newton, Justice for All: Earl Warren and the Nation He Made (2006)
Learn more: Mark Tushnet, The Warren Court in Historical and Political Perspective (1996)
And more: James F. Simon, Eisenhower vs. Warren: The Battle for Civil Rights and Liberties (2018)
Learn about the Warren Court (1953-1969) from the Supreme Court historical society here
Visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture here