Reading Comprehension

PT125 · S3 · P1 · Q5 Thurgood Marshall

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Most of what has been written about Thurgood Marshall, a former United States Supreme Court justice who served from 1967 to 1991, has just focused on his judicial record and on the ideological content of his earlier achievements as a lawyer pursuing civil rights issues in the courts.

Topic

Thurgood Marshall’s legacy in shaping public interest litigation strategies in the U.S.

Framework

Highlight Noteworthy

Main Point

While Thurgood Marshall is usually remembered for his judicial record and civil rights victories, his real innovation—and lasting impact—was in developing groundbreaking legal strategies with the NAACP that transformed how public interest law is practiced in the U.S. ( — last paragraph)

P1: Narrow Focus vs. Strategic Innovations

Most writings focus on Marshall’s court decisions and civil rights work, but if you look at his NAACP career from a technical perspective, you’ll see he revolutionized how public interest law campaigns could be organized—by creating meticulous, coordinated legal strategies, not just addressing cases as they came up.

P2: The Test Case Strategy and Plaintiff Selection

Marshall’s big move was the “test case” approach: purposely picking certain legal battles for their strategic value and for the precedent they could set, not just reacting to whatever cases appeared. He carefully chose plaintiffs who would help the cause the most, knowing that the right person could make or break the case’s impact.

P3: Use of Social Science Evidence (and Criticism)

Marshall also innovated by using social science evidence in court—like expert testimony on the damaging effects of segregation—to persuade judges on constitutional grounds. While effective, this approach has been criticized for relying on evidence outside traditional legal arguments.

5.

The passage provides the most support for which one of the following statements?

  1. The ideological motivations for Marshall’s

    Unsupported Comparison: motivations changed

    We aren't even told about Marshall's ideological motivations for working with the NAACP (presumably they were to advanced the civil rights of African Americans). We're only talking about the strategic methods he used and how those changed.

    2% picked this

  2. Correct

    Marshall declined to pursue some

    Why this is right

    The passage highlights that one of the tactics that helped Marshall is that when was trying to prove a certain point to a judge/jury, he would try to find a client that was likely to be looked upon favorably by the judge/jury. The fact that Marshall carefully selected cases with "sympathetic" litigants implies that he was considering options and thinking, "No, not him. He has a criminal record, so the judge/jury probably won't identify with him. Not him; he doesn't have any close friends or family and so he doesn't seem like a regular member of the community. Ooh! Yes, this guy! The judge/jury will already be rooting for this guy; he volunteers for the PTA and looks like a respectable businessman. They will be more affected by the injustice of his case, since he will remind them more of themselves." If you said you were really picky about which matches on Bumble you decided to have a coffee date with, it would imply that you had some matches that you ended up rejecting and not ever going on a date with.

    Skill tested: Inference · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

    79% picked this

  3. Marshall’s tactics were initially opposed

    Out of Scope: initially opposed

    Nothing in the passage suggests any friction between Marshall and the NAACP in the early going of their working relationship. We just hear that "he and the NAACP developed innovations that forever changed the landscape".

    4% picked this

  4. Marshall relied more on expert

    Unsupported Comparison: relied more / more likely

    In the third paragraph, it mentions that Marshall used sociological and psychological statistics, presented in expert testimony. It doesn't indicate whether this was lower courts, higher courts, or both. And it doesn't indicate that judges in one court vs. another would be more likely to give weight to statistical evidence.

    4% picked this

  5. Marshall’s colleagues at the NAACP

    Out of Scope

    Out of Scope: revised methods / areas beyond It never says that Marshall or the NAACP revised these methods or applied them to originally unintended applications. It just says "public interest law firms" have widely adopted their methods, devoting them to various public purposes.

    11% picked this

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