Commentary: The vetting of Thurgood Marshall — and a lesson for today
Thurgood Marshall was not the best choice for the open seat on the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in the fall of 1961. At least that's what many Southern white attorneys stated when the FBI interviewed them as part of a nationwide investigation for President John F. Kennedy.
It would be two full years before civil rights leaders would see Kennedy as an advocate of their cause, but the president pleasantly surprised them with his bold decision to appoint Marshall to the federal bench not long after the FBI concluded its
