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Supreme Court · Associate Justice

Thurgood Marshall

Democratic appointee: Appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson (D)

Served 1967–1991 · 24 terms

Confirmed 69–11

Biography

Thoroughgood "Thurgood" Marshall was an American lawyer who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-American justice. Before his judicial service, he was an attorney who fought for civil rights, leading the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Source: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Ideology over time

Marshall and the 17 justices who overlapped with Marshall, 1967–1990

−8−6−4−20+2+419701975198019851990More conservativeMore liberalRehnquistBurgerScaliaKennedyO'ConnorSouterPowellStewartWhiteBlackmunStevensBrennanMarshall
  • Thurgood Marshall
  • 95% credible interval
  • Peer, appointed by a Democrat
  • Peer, appointed by a Republican
  • Court median
How to read this

Martin–Quinn scores place each justice on a single liberal–conservative dimension, estimated from their votes across terms, with scores allowed to shift from one term to the next. Higher is more conservative. The shaded band is the credible interval: wider when the record is thin, especially in a justice’s first terms, and narrower as votes accumulate.

Where Marshall sits among all justices

Career average, every justice in the data set

−4−20+2+4−4.48−0.95

Marshall’s range across terms

Served alongside Marshall

17 justices

Closest career average first. Filled dot: the peer. Ring: Marshall.

JusticeTogetherCareer avg
John Stevens1975–1990career average −1.81 versus Marshall at −2.82William Brennan1967–1989career average −1.78 versus Marshall at −2.82Hugo Black1967–1970career average −1.76 versus Marshall at −2.82Abe Fortas1967–1968career average −1.32 versus Marshall at −2.82Earl Warren1967–1968career average −1.26 versus Marshall at −2.82William Douglas1967–1975career average −4.70 versus Marshall at −2.82David Souter1990career average −0.77 versus Marshall at −2.82Harry Blackmun1969–1990career average −0.03 versus Marshall at −2.82Potter Stewart1967–1980career average 0.40 versus Marshall at −2.82Byron White1967–1990career average 0.44 versus Marshall at −2.82Anthony Kennedy1987–1990career average 0.68 versus Marshall at −2.82Lewis Powell1971–1986career average 0.97 versus Marshall at −2.82Sandra O'Connor1981–1990career average 1.02 versus Marshall at −2.82John Harlan1967–1970career average 1.62 versus Marshall at −2.82Warren Burger1969–1985career average 1.89 versus Marshall at −2.82Antonin Scalia1986–1990career average 2.50 versus Marshall at −2.82William Rehnquist1971–1990career average 2.97 versus Marshall at −2.82

How Marshall voted

Every argued case Marshall took part in, newest first, with how Marshall voted in each: with the majority, in dissent, or in an equally divided Court. A Liberal or Conservative tag is the Supreme Court Database’s coding of who prevailed in the case, not a rating of the justices.

Loading cases…
    Data notes

    The Decisions page’s argued cases with this justice’s vote from the Supreme Court Database. “Majority” includes a concurrence; a vote that dissented in part is coded by the side the justice took overall. Cases the justice sat out and equally divided cases are left out of the percentages. “Wrote” means authored an opinion. Source: Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.).

    Report a correction

    Scores: Martin, Andrew D. and Kevin M. Quinn. 2002. “Dynamic Ideal Point Estimation via Markov Chain Monte Carlo for the U.S. Supreme Court, 1953–1999.” Political Analysis 10:134–153, from mqscores.wustl.edu. Appointment data: Federal Judicial Center biographical directory. Biographies: Wikipedia, text abridged, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Portraits: public-domain images via Wikimedia Commons.