EOTO #4 ThurGood Marshall

Thurgood Marshall was elected to become the first African American to serve on the supreme court on the 30th of August 1967. Marshall won by a 69-11 vote by the United States Senate. Before the vote actually took place the senate had a long debate, which lasted about 6 hours, regarding Thurgood Marshall. The debate was mainly about his character and his prior experiences in law. Of course, being nominated by the president for the position and also being confirmed for two other government positions helped him out.

Thurgood Marshall

Looking into his Legal career he participated in many cases regarding Civil rights. 

Brown v. Board case

Murry v. Maryland (1936)

Missouri ex rel Gaines v. Canada (1938)

After this he took over the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and argued the following cases 

McLaurin v. Oklahoma Board of Regents and Higher Education (1950)

Brown v. Board of Education. 

His arguments in favor of Civil Rights did not go unnoticed. President John F. Kennedy appointed him to the U.S. Court of Appeals. After Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson appointed him Solicitor General. The Solicitor General is someone who argues to the Supreme Court on the behalf of the United States Government. When Lyndon Johnson nominated him for the Supreme court position, he said that:

“Best qualified by training and by very valuable service to the country. … I believe it is the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man, the right place.”

Portait

Of course, during the actual debate regarding his position there was talk about him being a good fit for the supreme court. There were 5 senators who did not approve of him being a Justice with one of them saying it was a “Disservice to the Constitution and this Country to appoint a judicial activist to the supreme court at any time.” But Thurgood Marshall prevailed and with his 69-11 vote he became the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court.

Thurgood Marshall served for a total of 24 years on the U.S. Supreme Court before retiring in 1991. 

Marshall and his new friends