The U.S. Senate confirms the nomination of Hugo Black to the Supreme Court by a vote of 63-16 on August 17, 1937 despite rumors of his past membership in the Ku Klux Klan.
At the time of the Senate vote, there was no conclusive evidence presented to the public or the Senate tying Black to the Klan, which he had joined in the 1920s and resigned from in 1925 as a political maneuver. The full story broke in the press shortly after his confirmation, causing widespread outrage, but no official calls for his impeachment or resignation were successful. Black went on to serve for 34 years and is regarded as an influential justice who, surprisingly to some given his past, became a prominent champion of civil liberties and civil rights, including joining the unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education.
