thurgood marshall, jr., the son of thurgood marshall sr., the lawyer whose arguments swayed the supreme court in the brown versus board of education case and who later became the first african-american justice on the supreme court. thurgood marshall jr. is distinguished in his own right. graduating from the university of virginia, and the university of virginia school of law as. as a young lawyer he clerked for the u.s. district judge berrington parker and served as counsel for various senate committees, he's also been in public service serving with bill clinton and serving as secretary of the cabinet of the clinton administration. currently, he's a partner in the inte93 law firm bingham mccutcheon but his interests go beyond the legal field. he is public spirited serving on boards as diverse as the national fish and wildlife foundation, the ford foundation, the supreme court historical society, and the ethics advisory committee of the u.s. olympic committee among many others. "newsweek" magazine named him one of the 100 people to watch in the new century. and we have the opportunity to

thurgood marshall jr. is vice chairman of the board of governors for the postal service. he is the incoming chair as well. congratulations. nice to have you here today. and the list of former presidents goes on and on. jerry zremski, former president and also bureau chief of the "buffalo news." shawn riley is a reporter for "the federal times," and mike kazi is senior correspondent for federal news radio. and now please, give them your round of applause. [ applause ] popular lure tells us of the u.s. postal service, neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. but what weather might not prevent a financial storm could. the fact is, the united states postal service has been woven throughout the tapestry of american life. since the birth of this country, it has been part of our community and our communication. but that tradition, that service is very much at risk. the postal service is an organization in need of a new business model, it seems. as it stands, it cannot simply fold. it is under a le