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Go for the Jugular. In Daniel Webster's more leisurely time, the great case of McCulloch v. Maryland consumed six days of argument; today counsel are ordinarily confined to an "hour apiece. For Davis, therefore, Webster's first principle of argumentation is more important than ever: "The power of clear statement is the great power at the bar." In front of him, Davis spreads out the "record on appeal," and the "briefs" (written arguments, hammered out by other lawyers in his firm and submitted to the court in advance). Davis has prepared no full-length script, no memorized remarks—just a few key phrases on a scribble sheet. But he is master of his case. Lightly he skips from page 1,428 of the record to page 3, and back again, to make his points. His words, though spontaneous, are apt; his voice still sonorous, if no longer as powerful ("The horn you blow doesn't get any louder as you get older"); his argument confident without being arrogant. Other lawyers may try to put across a dozen ideas in a case. Davis prefers to narrow the issue to its lifeline: "Always go for the jugular vein."
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THURGOOD MARSHALL, 45, who ranked No. 1 in his law-school class ('33) at all-Negro Howard University in Washington, D.C., used to cut classes regularly—whenever John W. Davis came to town. Recalls Marshall: "Every time John Davis argued, I'd ask myself, 'Will I ever, ever . . .?' and every time I had to answer, 'No, never.' " Nowadays Marshall, officially special counsel of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and unofficially (to the Negro press) "Mr. Civil Rights," has his own Howard cheering section. But, though he thinks John Davis "all wrong on civil rights." Marshall stayed up most of one night recently to "edit out the snide cracks" about Davis from a draft brief in the Briggs case, prepared by more emotional and less respectful juniors on N.A.A.C.P.'s interracial legal staff. Says Marshall sagely: "Lose your head, lose your case." But in the courtroom, Marshall is at his most moving when he is most moved.
Four Corners. From the actual plaintiffs and defendants he represents, Marshall gets not a cent; the N.A.A.C.P. and its Legal Fund (combined annual budget: $500,000) pay him a flat $12,000 a year to give first-class counsel to Jim Crow's "secondclass citizens." Marshall generally has a running headstart on opposing lawyers in civil rights cases; the law he made yesterday is today's precedent. Four of Marshall's victories have become the constitutional cornerstones of the Negro's new civil rights: Smith v. Allwright, outlawing the Texas "white primary" and opening the way to effective Negro voting throughout the South; Morgan v. Virginia, striking down state-imposed segregation in interstate transportation; Sweatt v. Painter, compelling the University of Texas to admit a Negro to its law school; Shelley v. Kraemer, holding unenforceable, under the 14th Amendment, a racial housing covenant. Marshall's Supreme Court record: won 13, lost 2.