PrepTest 115, Section 1, Question 7

Author's OpinionDifficulty1 of 5
Passage 2How Thurgood Marshall developed the strategy that helped win Brown
The questionFull text in your LawHub copy of PrepTest 115

Thurgood Marshall's litigation of Brown v.(446 more words not shown)

It can most reasonably be(15 more words not shown)

Reading the passage

Marshall thought the theoretical challenge could ultimately succeed, so why begin with narrower cases? He wanted to show the courts the inequalities first and prepare them for the larger argument. I'd predict a strategy of gradual persuasion.

Working the answers

  • A

    The NAACP was divided, but the stated purpose wasn't to answer critics within it. Marshall was preparing the courts to accept the theoretical challenge. Disagreement among his allies doesn't establish this particular motive.

  • B

    Never accept reverses his plan. He believed the theoretical approach would eventually bring repeal; the earlier cases were preparation for that result.

  • C

    This introduces a requirement about which court hears a case first. The distinction here is between kinds of arguments, not between lower-court and Supreme Court stages of the same case.

  • D
    Correct

    He felt the practical cases were necessary to make courts receptive to the broader legal challenge (paragraph 2). That supports gradual persuasion: demonstrate the failures, then use that groundwork to challenge the doctrine itself.

  • E

    Practical goals do appear, and Marshall pursued them. But using them as steps toward the broader challenge doesn't establish a preference for them. The text expressly identifies the theoretical approach as the one he expected to bring repeal.

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