Chuck Schumer Says Supreme Court 'Was All White Men' Until 1981, Disregards Thurgood Marshall
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer proudly boasted Thursday that President Joe Biden's nomination of the first Black woman to the Supreme Court would be historic.
Schumer, however, apparently didn't crack open his history books before taking the podium. Schumer falsely claimed that the Supreme Court was made up of all white men until 1981.
"Until 1981, this powerful body, the Supreme Court, was all White men. Imagine. America wasn't all White men in 1981, or ever," Schumer said. "Under President Biden and this Senate majority, we're taking historic steps to make the courts look more like the country they serve by confirming highly qualified, diverse nominees."
If Schumer would have cared to study his Black history, during Black History Month nonetheless, he would have known that Thurgood Marshall was confirmed as the first Black person to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States on Aug. 30, 1967.
Marshall was appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th President of the United States. Marshall would serve as associate justice from 1967 until his retirement in 1991. He passed away in 1993 of heart failure at the age of 84.
As Schumer relayed, Biden said last Thursday that he would only nominate a Black women to fill the current vacancy in the Supreme Court after Stephen Breyer's retirement.
“The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience and integrity. And that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court,” Biden said. “It’s long overdue in my view. I made that commitment during the campaign for president, and I will keep that commitment.”
According to an ABC News/Ipsos poll, nearly 76% of Americans disagree with Biden's decision to limit his Supreme Court Justice search to only a Black woman to fill the vacancy.
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