Congressional Gold Medal Authorized for Civil Rights Icon Constance Baker Motley

The “Congressional Tribute to Constance Baker Motley Act of 2025” isn’t changing your tax bracket or redefining your commute, but it is a significant nod to history. This bill authorizes the posthumous award of a Congressional Gold Medal to Constance Baker Motley, recognizing her monumental contributions to civil rights and the judiciary. Specifically, Section 3 authorizes the top brass in Congress—the Speaker of the House and the Senate President pro tempore—to arrange the presentation of the medal, which will be designed by the Secretary of the Treasury to feature her portrait and name.

Honoring a Legal Trailblazer

For those who haven’t had time to dive deep into civil rights history, Constance Baker Motley was a giant. The bill’s findings (Section 2) highlight that she was the only woman on the legal team that argued the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954. She later became the first African-American woman elected to the New York State Senate, the first woman to serve as President of the Borough of Manhattan, and, crucially, the first African-American woman federal judge in U.S. history, appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966. This medal is Congress’s way of ensuring her legacy—a legacy of breaking barriers in the legal field and government—is formally recognized at the highest level.

The Economics of Commemoration

While the primary goal is tribute, the bill also lays out the practical logistics of actually making and paying for the medal. The official gold medal will be presented to her son, Joel Motley III, and her niece, Constance Royster, and the actual medal will be kept by her son (Section 3). More interesting from a financial standpoint is Section 4, which allows the Secretary of the Treasury to create and sell bronze duplicates of the medal. This isn't just about making cool collectibles; it’s about covering the costs. The selling price of these bronze copies must be high enough to cover all production expenses, including labor, materials, and overhead.

How the Mint Keeps Score

Section 6 confirms that the upfront cost of producing the gold medal will be paid for out of the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund—which is standard practice for these types of awards. Crucially, any revenue generated from selling those bronze duplicates goes right back into that same fund. So, if you’re a collector who buys one of these commemorative bronze medals, your purchase effectively helps reimburse the Mint for the cost of producing the entire run, ensuring the tribute is paid for without a net loss to the general taxpayer. Finally, Section 5 classifies these medals as both “national medals” and “numismatic items,” which is just the federal government’s way of saying they are officially recognized collectibles that fall under specific accounting rules for the U.S. Mint.