US jurists. John Marshall Harlan (1833–1911), US Supreme Court associate justice 1877–1911. A strong defender of civil rights, he declared in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) in a dissenting opinion that the Constitution is “color-blind.” His grandson and namesake, John Marshall Harlan (1899–1971), generally conservative, was a US Supreme Court associate justice 1955–71.
Definition of Harlan in US English:
Harlan
proper nounˈhärlən
US jurists. John Marshall Harlan (1833–1911), US Supreme Court associate justice 1877–1911. A strong defender of civil rights, he declared in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) in a dissenting opinion that the Constitution is “color-blind.” His grandson and namesake, John Marshall Harlan (1899–1971), generally conservative, was a US Supreme Court associate justice 1955–71.