That Motley Woman: Constance Baker Motley, A Woman for All Seasons

COURSE DETAILS

Constance Baker Motley was a woman for all seasons. A brilliant advocate and legal strategist for the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, she was the first African-American woman admitted to the Bar of the United States Supreme Court, where she won nine of the ten cases she argued before the high court.

Constance Baker Motley was the first African-American woman to be elected to the New York State Senate and the first elected Manhattan Borough President.

In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson appointed her to a judgeship in the Southern District of New York (SDNY). She was the first African-American woman nominated and confirmed to the federal judiciary.

From 1982 to 1986 she was the Chief Judge of the SDNY, another first, until she assumed senior status.

During nearly forty years as a federal judge, she issued numerous decisions exemplifying the best of the federal bench.

FACULTY

Rudolph Carmenaty, Deputy Commissioner, Nassau County Department of Social Services