Past Kills Judgeship For Gray Ex-Gorton Colleague Backed Segregation As College Student
The White House has refused to nominate Seattle lawyer Marvin “Monty” Gray Jr. as a federal judge after he told Justice Department lawyers he had defended racial segregation while a college sophomore more than 30 years ago.
The White House’s decision drew sharp criticism from Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., who threatened to hold up two other nominations to the federal bench from Washington state-Seattle lawyer M. Margaret McKeown and Pasco attorney Ed Shea.
Gorton defended his former law partner and said Gray was being “penalized because this White House is so mired in daily and enduring scandal that it must beat a hasty retreat at the first sign of controversy. The actions Mr. Gray took over 30 years ago, and which he rejects today, should not have doomed this nomination - lest this heavy-handed judgment be applied to other judicial candidates.”
Washington state’s other senator, Democrat Patty Murray, who along with Gorton had recommended Gray to the White House, said she was unaware Gray had ever advocated segregation.
“If I had been aware of this information during the selection process, I would never have recommended him for the job,” Murray said.
A White House spokesman, John Murchinson, declined comment, but the decision not to nominate Gray came as Clinton pursued his initiative to improve race relations in the country.
Two weeks ago, Clinton was in Little Rock, Ark., to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the integration of Central High School. In a symbolic gesture, he held open the doors of the high school for the nine black students who had been barred during a tense standoff in 1957.
The Gray nomination was to be part of a deal between Gorton and Murray to end months of sparring over judicial nominations. The two senators had recently agreed to create a joint panel to review judicial nominations and proceed with those of Gray, McKeown and Shea.
“Because this process has been frustrated by the White House, all other nominations agreed to some time ago are stalled until a new agreement can be reached between Senator Murray, the White House and me,” Gorton said in a statement.
Murray said she hadn’t spoken to Gorton, but hoped the other nominations could still proceed.
Gray, in a statement released by his law firm, disavowed the segregationist beliefs he had expressed as a youth and said his entire career as a lawyer has been dedicated to equal justice and equal opportunity.
In an interview with Justice Department lawyers two weeks ago, Gray said he told them during his sophomore year at Princeton University he “naively allowed myself to be persuaded to step forward in an attempt to justify segregation. The resulting controversy was short-lived, but it attracted press coverage.
“On the basis of this information, the White House officials responsible for such matters determined that they would not recommended my name to the president.”