As Media Matters noted on Monday, radio host Rush Limbaugh used Solicitor General Elena Kagan's nomination to fill Justice John Paul Steven's seat on the Supreme Court as an opportunity to attack former Justice Thurgood Marshall for his view that the original U.S. Constitution was “defective” because it sanctioned slavery and gender inequality. Kagan clerked for Justice Marshall in 1988 and has praised his legacy.

Asked to respond to Limbaugh's incendiary attacks on Marshall and Kagan, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund provided Media Matters with a statement both defending Marshall's lifetime of work and endorsing Kagan's nomination, saying in part:

The Late Justice Marshall challenged America to continue to “Knock down the fences that divide, tear apart the walls that imprison, and reach out, for freedom lies just on the other side.” Thurgood Marshall's legacy for our nation of equality and inclusion under our Constitution is alive and strong, as evidenced by Elena Kagan's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, where she would be the fourth female appointment.

The full statement from Thurgood Marshall College Fund can be found after the jump.

Statement from Thurgood Marshall College Fund:

The story of Brown vs. The Board of Education is one of hope and courage. May 17, 1954 was a truly historic day for our nation as the United States Supreme Court handed down a landmark unanimous decision striking down Plessy v. Ferguson, a holding that, since 1896, made “Separate But Equal” the law of the land and kept our nation's schools segregated. The Brown decision not only integrated our public schools, but it ultimately opened up so many doors of opportunity wrongfully closed to people just because of the color of their skin. Thurgood Marshall, the lead attorney in the Brown case, became our nation's first African-American Solicitor General and later the first African-American Supreme Court Justice.

The Late Justice Marshall challenged America to continue to “Knock down the fences that divide, tear apart the walls that imprison, and reach out, for freedom lies just on the other side.” Thurgood Marshall's legacy for our nation of equality and inclusion under our Constitution is alive and strong, as evidenced by Elena Kagan's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, where she would be the fourth female appointment.

We, at the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, are extremely supportive of Ms. Kagan's nomination for a number of reasons; but two standout as particularly meaningful – she served as a law clerk to Justice Marshall and she served on the Board of Directors of the College Fund bearing Justice Marshall's name. Ms. Kagan's career has embodied the meaning and tradition of Thurgood Marshall's life's work to support the Constitutional mandate of inclusion and equal protection under the law for all Americans, particularly in higher education.

As the only national organization to provide merit scholarships, programmatic and capacity building support to our country's 47 Public Historically Black Colleges and Universities and 6 Historically Black Law Schools and their 235,000 students, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund enthusiastically supports Elena Kagan's nomination and eventual appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court because her body of work evidences a commitment to removing any and all impediments to giving each and every American, irrespective of race or color, equal access to a quality post-secondary higher education opportunity.