In 1950, she wrote the original complaint in the case of "Brown v. Board of Education". The first African-American woman ever to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, in "Meredith v. Fair" she won James Meredith's effort to be the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi in 1962. Motley was successful in nine of the ten cases she argued before the Supreme Court. The tenth decision, regarding jury composition, was eventually overturned in her favor. She was otherwise a key legal strategist in the civil rights movement, helping to desegregate Southern schools, buses, and lunch counters.