This bill would honor civil rights leader and judge Constance Baker Motley with a Congressional Gold Medal. It recognizes her work as a lawyer with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, her role in Brown v. Board of Education, and her leadership as the first Black woman to serve as a federal judge and later as chief judge in New York’s federal trial court.

If passed, the U.S. Mint would create a gold medal with her image and name. It would be presented to her son, Joel Motley III, and her niece, Constance Royster; afterward, the medal would belong to her son. The Mint could sell bronze copies to the public, with costs paid from the Mint’s fund and sale proceeds going back into that fund. These medals would be treated as national medals and collectibles under federal law.

Key points

• Who is affected: Constance Baker Motley’s family and anyone who may buy a bronze copy from the U.S. Mint.
• What changes: Congress authorizes a posthumous Gold Medal; the Treasury designs and strikes it; bronze duplicates may be sold; costs and proceeds run through the Mint’s fund.
• Why it matters: It publicly honors Motley’s lifetime of work for civil rights and her historic firsts in law and public service.