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91_SJ0024
LRB9105761CBcb
1 SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, Justice Thurgood Marshall first brought his
3 cause to the courts as a private citizen and traveled
4 throughout the United States demanding that the legal system
5 uphold rights that the political system would not enforce;
6 and
7 WHEREAS, Justice Marshall constructed the legal arguments
8 which ended segregation in 1954, so that equality in America
9 truly could mean "getting the same thing, at the same time
10 and in the same place"; and
11 WHEREAS, Justice Marshall, as the chief legal officer of
12 the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
13 People for more than 20 years, organized and implemented the
14 nation's first program of systematic public interest
15 litigation; and
16 WHEREAS, Justice Marshall ably served the public for over
17 three decades, as a judge on the United States Second Circuit
18 Court of Appeals, as Solicitor General of the United States,
19 and finally as the first African-American Justice of the
20 United States Supreme Court; and
21 WHEREAS, Justice Marshall remained true to the
22 Constitution in his crusade for equal educational and
23 employment opportunities, for First Amendment and
24 reproductive freedoms, and for preservation of the rights of
25 the accused and the convicted; and
26 WHEREAS, Justice Marshall's life-long support for the
27 rights of the disenfranchised, the underprivileged and the
28 powerless served as a constant reminder that this country was
29 founded upon the promise of equality - a promise which for
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1 many has not yet been fulfilled; and
2 WHEREAS, Justice Marshall's contributions to the American
3 justice system will have an enduring impact on American
4 society and warrant a permanent public tribute; and
5 WHEREAS, Interstate 57, from Cairo to Chicago, links all
6 ethnic groups and economic strata of the State, passes
7 through notable sites in the State's struggle to ensure civil
8 rights, and is an appropriate public improvement to bear the
9 name of Justice Marshall; and
10 WHEREAS, Interstate 290 was named in honor of Dwight D.
11 Eisenhower of Kansas and Interstate 90 was named after John
12 F. Kennedy of Massachusetts; therefore be it
13 RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIRST GENERAL
14 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF
15 REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING HEREIN, that the part of
16 Interstate Route 57 of the National System of Interstate and
17 Defense Highways which is within the State of Illinois is
18 designated as the Thurgood Marshall Memorial Freeway; and be
19 it further
20 RESOLVED, That the Illinois Department of Transportation
21 erect appropriate signs, markers, or plaques along the
22 highway in recognition of this designation; and be it further
23 RESOLVED, That a copy of this preamble and resolution be
24 presented to the Secretary of the Illinois Department of
25 Transportation.