Shortly before his death, Judge John Marshall Harlan of the U.S. Supreme Court became partly conscious and spoke his farewell words to those at his bedside: "Goodbye, I am sorry to have kept you all waiting so long."Justice Harlan would forever be known as the lone dissenter in one of the most infamous Supreme Court decisions ever handed down in American history: Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), where the legal concept of "separate but equal" segregation statutes were upheld. His eloquent defense of basic civil rights stands as a testament to his vision and adherence to the concept of the rule of law:
"[...] in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law regards man as man, and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved."
His grandson, John Marshall Harlan II, would be appointed an Associate Justice by Dwight Eisenhower in 1955 and serve until 1971. Ironically, he disagreed with his grandfather on the doctrine of incorporation whereas the Fourteenth Amendment made the Bill of Rights applicable at the state and federal level. He would in turn be replaced by eventual Chief Justice William Renquist by Richard Nixon who was Vice President when his predecessor was appointed.
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