John Marshall Harlan (June 1, 1833-October 14, 1911) was a U.S. Supreme Court associate justice, 1877-1911, and Union Colonel during the Civil War. He is distinguished for opposing Southern segregation laws, being the only dissenter in the infamous Civil Rights Cases (1883), and Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). Harlan was the first Supreme Court justice to have earned a modern law degree, and the only one to have a descendent sit on the Court.
Justice John Marshall Harlan was a devoted member of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, serving as Elder or Trustee from 1900-1911. He founded and presided over the Harlan Bible Class from 1896-1911. When the Washington, D.C. Presbytery voted in 1906 to reunite its Cumberland Presbyterian Church and Presbyterian Church USA congregations, Harlan vote against the reunion as it would have permitted segregated congregations.
In 1875, Justice John Marshall Harlan referred to African Americans:
<Here those people are and here they will remain. They were created as we have been, in the image of the Maker, and every dictate of humanity, to say nothing of self-interest, imperatively demands that political organizations shall cease to keep alive the prejudices and passions which grew out of the abolition of the institution of slavery.> 1833JH201
Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote:
<Our Constitution is color-blind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens...The arbitrary separation of citizens on the basis of race...is a badge of servitude wholly inconsistent with civil freedom and the equality before the law established by the Constitution.> 1833JH202
The New York Times wrote in 1954, when the Supreme Court overturned the Plessy v Ferguson case with Brown v. The Board of Education:
<Last Monday's case dealt solely with segregation in the schools, but there was not one word in Chief Justice Warren's opinion that was inconsistent with the earlier views of Justice Harlan. This is an instance in which the voice crying in the wilderness finally becomes the expression of a people's will and in which justice overtakes and thrusts aside a timorous expediency.> 1833JH203
In 1906, Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote:
<I believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Nothing which it commands can be safely or properly disregarded - nothing it condemns can be justified. No civilization is worth preserving which is not based on the doctrines or teachings of the Bible.> 1833JH204
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1833JH201. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Justice John Marshall Harlan, 1875, statement regarding African Americans. The New York Avenue Presyterian Church, 1313 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20005-4790. http://www.nyapc.org/history/?name=Justice Harlan. Information from Alan F. Westin, John Marshall Harlan And the Constitutional Rights of Negroes: The Transformation of a Southerner, Yale Law Review (April, 1957); and Westin, "Mr. Justice Harlan", in Allison Durham and Philip B. Kurland, eds. Mr. Justice: Biographical Studies of Twelve Supreme Court Justices Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964; and James H. Smylie. A Brief History of the Presbyterians. Special thanks to Judge Darrell White, Retired Judges of America, http://retiredjudges.org/.
1833JH202. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Justice John Marshall Harlan, statement. The New York Avenue Presyterian Church, 1313 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20005-4790. http://www.nyapc.org/history/?name=Justice Harlan. Information from Alan F. Westin, John Marshall Harlan And the Constitutional Rights of Negroes: The Transformation of a Southerner, Yale Law Review (April, 1957); and Westin, "Mr. Justice Harlan", in Allison Durham and Philip B. Kurland, eds. Mr. Justice: Biographical Studies of Twelve Supreme Court Justices Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964; and James H. Smylie. A Brief History of the Presbyterians. Special thanks to Judge Darrell White, Retired Judges of America, http://retiredjudges.org/.
1833JH203. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). The New York Times, 1954, editorial mentioning Justice John Marshall Harlan when the Supreme Court overturned the Plessy v Ferguson case with Brown v. The Board of Education. The New York Avenue Presyterian Church, 1313 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20005-4790. http://www.nyapc.org/history/?name=Justice Harlan. Information from Alan F. Westin, John Marshall Harlan And the Constitutional Rights of Negroes: The Transformation of a Southerner, Yale Law Review (April, 1957); and Westin, "Mr. Justice Harlan", in Allison Durham and Philip B. Kurland, eds. Mr. Justice: Biographical Studies of Twelve Supreme Court Justices Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964; and James H. Smylie. A Brief History of the Presbyterians. Special thanks to Judge Darrell White, Retired Judges of America, http://retiredjudges.org/.
1833JH204. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Justice John Marshall Harlan, 1906, statement. The New York Avenue Presyterian Church, 1313 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20005-4790. http://www.nyapc.org/history/?name=Justice Harlan. Information from Alan F. Westin, John Marshall Harlan And the Constitutional Rights of Negroes: The Transformation of a Southerner, Yale Law Review (April, 1957); and Westin, "Mr. Justice Harlan", in Allison Durham and Philip B. Kurland, eds. Mr. Justice: Biographical Studies of Twelve Supreme Court Justices Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964; and James H. Smylie. A Brief History of the Presbyterians. Special thanks to Judge Darrell White, Retired Judges of America, http://retiredjudges.org/.