Thurgood Marshall Sworn in as Federal Judge

    ARNOLD DE MILLE - public relations 
P. O. Box 98 
Manhattanville 27, N. Y. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 26, 1961 

THURGOOD MARSHALL SWORN IN 

AS FEDERAL JUDGE 

Thurgood Marshall, former Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal 

Defense and Educational Fund, was sworn in Monday as a federal judge 

in the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. 

The swearing in was administered in a special session of the 

Court at Foley Square in New York City. The courtroom was jammed to 

capacity with longtime friends, dignitaries, and other well-wishers. 

Judge Marshall's appointment to the federal bench came twenty- 

five years to the month after he began his career in the legal work of 

the NAACP. 

Among the dignitaries who attended the ceremony were Secretary of 

Labor Arthur J. Goldberg, U. S. Senator Jacob K. Javits of New York, 

and New York City Mayor Robert F. Wagner. 

Others present included NAACP Executive Secretary Roy Wilkins, 

Judge William H. Hastie of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Third 

Circuit, Manhattan Borough President Edward R. Dudley, Appellate 

Division Justice Harold Stevens, General Sessions Judge Thomas Dicken 

City Court Judge Francis Rivers, and Chicago Attorney Robert Ming. 

Also George Crawford, Sovereign Grand Commander, Supreme Coun- 

cil, Northern Jurisdiction of Prince Hall Masons; Louis E. Martin, 

Deputy Director of the Democratic National Committee and publisher of 

the Michigan Chronicle; Arthur B. Spingarn, NAACP President, Howard 

University Law School Dean Spottswood W. Robinson, III, former New 

York City Police Commissioner Stephen P. Kennedy and Bishop Stephen 

Spottswood, Chairman of the NAACP. 

Judge Marshall's wife, Cecilia, and his two sons, Thurgood, Jr., 

5, and John, 3, were proud onlookers. 

Legal Defense Fund General Counsel Jack Greenberg, who succeeded 

Mr. Marshall as head of the Legal Defense Fund, members of the Defense 

Fund Board, and the entire staff were present. 

Before administering the oath of office, Chief Judge J. Edward 

Lumbard read a brief statement in which he said: 



"On behalf of all the judges of this Court, we count ourselves 

fortunate in that the President has seen fit to fill one of the newly 

created circuit judgeships by nominating so eminent and knowledgeable 

a member of our bar as Mr. Thurgood Marshall. 

"During the past twenty years, few, if any, members of the 

American bar have had so varied an experience in the Federal trial 

and appellate courts of so many Federal circuits. 

"For more than twenty years Mr. Marshall has devoted his talents 

to the great cause of civil rights, and he has contributed to the 

steady and certain progress of this cause by unremitting labor, legal 

skill, expert advocacy, loyalty and devotion. It is no surprise that 

he is now called to serve in a higher capacity in the administration 

of all our laws as one of our circuit judges."