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I don't think they had much of a choice, and also needed to replace their Harriers (and cannibalising retired British Harriers can only go so far). The US Marines have always been a hardcore and independent service, but in recent years have faced strong headwinds from other services and Uncle Sam himself. For example, the USMC always had its own independent special operations capability, with the tip of their spear being the Force Recon Marines. When SOCOM (Special Operations Command) was created in 1986 - the organization that brought together the special operations units of the Army, Navy and Airforce - the USMC refused to join so as to maintain their independence.

Result?

The USMC was largely kept away from high value spec ops missions for years, which led to them finally giving up in 2005 and the creation of MARSOC and the entry of MARSOC into SOCOM. Unfortunately, the men from MARSOC came from the Force Recon teams, which were essentially raided, and it took years for Force Recon to build back it's numbers. More importantly, it is hard for them to keep numbers up. Think of it this way ...any mission involving Marines that is spec ops in nature can go to MARSOC or to Force Recon, and MARSOC will almost always get the first shot since it is part of SOCOM (together with the Green Berets, Navy SEALs and Airforce PJs), while Force Recon is now just a small independent outfit wholly operated by the USMC. MARSOC keeps getting the best from Force Recon.

Anyway, looking at the F 35, I doubt the USMC had much of a choice. They needed a new plane as the AV-8 Harriers are getting old (and the F-35 is more capable than they are), as are the F/A-18Cs, and apart from the F-35 there was no other option. Now, one can say that the SuperHornet can replace the legacy Hornets operated by the USMC, but there was no other replacement for the AV-8.

They didn't have much of a choice.