Thurgood Marshall: Opinion in Florida v. Bostick

Thurgood Marshall’s life spanned a momentous period in American history, from the entrenched segregation of the early twentieth century to the post-civil-rights movement after mid-century in which discrimination grievances have become incorporated into formal legal structures. It is noteworthy that it was Marshall, the grandchild of slaves, who played a crucial role in affording civil rights the protection of the law. As an NAACP attorney, he was a prime advocate of legal strategies that ushered in an integrated American society. As an associate Supreme Court justice, Marshall continued his passion for correcting some of the practices he viewed as systemically discriminatory. The case of Florida v. Bostick established the legality of random searches of passengers’ belongings by police on city buses, without suspicion of illegal activity. In his dissent from the Court’s majority opinion, Marshall argues that reasonable people in the cramped confines of a bus would not feel...