First African-American Supreme Court justice, Aug. 31, 1967
The Senate confirmed U.S. Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall as a Supreme Court justice on Aug. 31,
1967. Previously legal director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP),
Marshall won the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case leading to school desegregation. An article in the Aug.
31, 1967, Greensburg Daily News of Greensburg, Ind., explored how his selection might affect Supreme Court
decisions.
“When Thurgood Marshall takes his seat at the junior end of the Supreme Court bench Oct. 2, the court’s
philosophical scale will tip toward the liberal side,” wrote United Press International reporter Steven Gerstel.
“Marshall, confirmed by the Senate Wednesday ... is expected to bolster the liberal bloc headed by Chief
Justice Earl Warren.”
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Read more about Thurgood Marshall’s legal career
In an opinion piece printed June 30, 1991, in the Cedar Rapids Gazette of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, former U.S.
Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach argued that retiring Justice Marshall’s appeal transcended partisanship.
Liberals, conservatives will miss Marshall
In the Dec. 23, 1998, Daily Herald of Chicago, book reviewer Ronald Collins discusses Thurgood Marshall: American
Revolutionary, a new biography of the late Supreme Court justice. Justice Marshall made his biggest mark as a lawyer
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