Among his many legal successes arguing cases across the United States and in the south, Thurgood Marshall would be confirmed to the Supreme Court by the United States Senate after being nominated by United States President Lyndon Baines Johnson. The successful nomination was unprecedented on multiple scores, which is the subject of the Wil Haygood book Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America.
The five-day hearing of the U.S. Senate that confirmed Thurgood Marshall, of New York, the first African-American Supreme Court justice on July 13th, 14th, 18th, 19th and 24th, 1967 are the central timeline that Wil Haygood uses to share Marshall‘s biography. At state in Marshall‘s life story were the stakes of the American civil rights movement of the era, with Justice Marshall‘s career, preceding legal practice and social activity geared at moving the dial forward. Marshall led the legal case that legally struck down the separate-but-equal doctrine, which led to school integration (Brown v. Board of Education overturning Plessy v. Ferguson). Haygood documented scores of legal defenses for the underrepresented and unfairly attacked. These points and more established Marshall‘s candidacy for the supreme court. The establishing of that background, and the tactics used against him through the Supreme Court hearing, have been replicated in the Senate since.
The Marshall nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in September 1961 by U.S. President John F. Kennedy by southern US senators for many months. James O. Eastland of Mississippi, a noted southern US senator with a similar motivation through the Supreme Court nomination, aimed to stack the deck. The tactics of Strom Thurmond of South Carolina was given notable attention through this biography as well.
There is much to recommend the story of this book from an educational and entertainment perspective. There are life lessons and philosophical approaches to life and intellect that offer insight, along with the underlying drama and contributing actions of two separate presidents in aiming to successfully nominate a qualified jurist. The history lessons in the subject matter, the tactics and the humanity of the Thurgood Marshall path to the Supreme Court helps me grant Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination that Changed America as written by Wil Haygood 4.5-stars on a scale of one-to-five stars.
Matt – Wednesday, September 6, 2023
Matt Lynn Digital 