Burke Marshall

Burke Marshall (October 1, 1922 – June 2, 2003) was an American lawyer who served as the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division during the Civil Rights Movement. He was a confidante of the Kennedy family.

Marshall was born in Plainfield, New Jersey.

During his time in government, Marshall was a significant contributor to a number of advances in civil rights. In 1961, racial segregation on interstate travel was banned. The following year, the University of Mississippi was forced to admit James Meredith, a well-qualified black student. Marshall and the Attorney General persuaded President Kennedy to enforce the order using federal troops.

Marshall also ran a campaign to increase voter registration by blacks. Within two years of coming into office, he had launched 42 federal lawsuits against states to reform their electoral legislation. He was also the George W. Crawford Professorial Lecturer in Law. At the Yale Law School, Marshall taught courses in constitutional law, federal jurisdiction, and political and civil rights. Among his most innovative and well-known courses was "The Limits of the Law," which he co-taught at first with Professor Joseph Goldstein and later with both Professor Goldstein and Aharon Barak, Chief Justice of the Israel Supreme Court. He also co-taught a course on Religion and the Law with Professor Perry Dane at a time when that subject was rarely taught as a course to itself at major law schools.

Marshall was the chair of the Vera Institute of Justice Board of Trustees between 1966 and 1986. He also chaired the Center for Employment Opportunities in 1996. In 1999, he received the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights.

Death Marshall died June 2, 2003, aged 80, at his home in Newtown, Connecticut, of complications of myelodysplasia, a bone marrow disorder.

He was survived by his wife Violet P. Marshall, three daughters, Catie Marshall, Jane Marshall, both of Brooklyn, New York, and Josie Phillips of Plymouth, England, as well as four grandchildren: Ian Marshall Bakerman and Morgan Montgomery Bakerman of Catie Marshall and Nelson Bakerman; and James Marshall Phillips and Samuel Burke Phillips, who are the sons of Josie and Greg Phillips.