Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall Research Paper

Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall - Research Paper Example Thurgood Marshall was a strong supporter of Martin Luther King and his efforts to liberate the black community from suppression. He has supported the anti-colonial struggles in Asia and Africa. In fact he has travelled the African countries in order to extend his support to the anti-colonial movements. At the same time he supported America’s involvement in the military conflicts with North Korea and Vietnam. Even though many of the Americans opposed the Vietnam War, Marshall was a strong supporter of Vietnam War as the Solicitor General and as a Supreme Court Justice. Many people believe that Marshall supported Vietnam War in order to avoid a possible clash between American judiciary and Executive or Legislative branches. Moreover, he was a strong opponent of communism which was another reason for the his support to Vietnam War. â€Å"Justice Marshall was an unyielding opponent of capital punishment, and voted to overturn every death sentence that came before the Court. He proved as strong a champion of freedom of expression as he had been for civil rights† (The Legacy of Thurgood Marshall, p11). Marshall’s effort to stop capital punishment has not been succeeded. Even then he has expressed his strong protest against capital punishment many times. In his opinion, human has no authority to take the life of a person even though it is necessary to punish the criminals. In his opinion, only the creator has the sole right over the life of his creations. At the same time he was a strong advocate of freedom of expression and civil rights. It was Marshall’s belief that government and society must permit each individual to achieve the limits of his or her intellectual and creative ability; to eliminate artificial barriers of bias, prejudice, arbitrary authority or paternalism and to the proposition that the ordinary person, whatever his or her color or sex, needs the protection of law (Shah) He has witnessed many incidents in American society itself with