Biden’s Racist Supreme Court Promise

On Jan. 27, Justice Stephen Breyer announced his plans to retire from the Supreme Court. Born in 1938, Breyer graduated from Harvard Law School and worked there as a professor. He also served as the chief counsel for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and as the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, before being sworn in as an associate Supreme Court justice in 1994 under President Bill Clinton. He has since then served as a liberal Supreme Court justice.

So who is President Biden planning on nominating to succeed Breyer? Although one might assume that any candidate nominated for the position should be chosen based solely on their qualifications, Biden seems to disagree with this basic notion. Instead, he stated that “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. It’s long overdue, in my view.”

Now it is true that we have never had a Black woman on the Supreme Court. But why should that justify using race and gender as the leading criteria for a Supreme Court nomination? Why could not Biden leave out the second half of his statement? Nominate someone with extraordinary qualifications! If that person happens to be a Black woman, then great! But why the need to point out that he is only looking at Black, female candidates?

While Biden is trying to appear as non-discriminatory, he is in fact proving that he is the opposite. By refusing to look at a large number of talented, qualified nominees simply because of their race or gender, Biden is actually acting in the most discriminatory way possible. He is showing prejudice against everyone who is not a Black female –– something which can be described as reverse discrimination. Senator Ted Cruz noted on his podcast “Verdict,” “The fact that he's willing to make a promise at the outset, that it must be a Black woman, I gotta say that's offensive. You know, you know Black women are what, 6% of the U.S. population? He's saying to 94% of Americans, 'I don't give a damn about you, you are ineligible.’”

Now aside from being extremely biased against the majority of America, Biden is actually insulting Black women as well. He is effectively saying that he does not believe a Black woman can become a Supreme Court Justice based simply on her own merit and qualifications. To quote Cruz once again, “If he came and said, 'I'm gonna put the best jurist on the court' and he looked at a number of people and he ended up nominating a Black woman, he could credibly say, 'OK, I'm nominating the person who's most qualified.” But now, people will forever say that whoever is nominated only received that position because of her race and gender. This is an insult to Black women everywhere. Biden’s supposed anti-racist, anti-misogynist statement is in fact conveying just the opposite. 

Biden is trying and failing to appeal to the “woke” mob. Let’s not forget Biden’s own history of racially questionable acts. In 1991, during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, Biden argued with him on the Senate floor and voted against his becoming a Supreme Court justice. Suddenly Biden is such an advocate of African American rights? If so, then why did he try to prevent Clarence Thomas from being confirmed?

In addition to this, Biden has also made extremely offensive and racist remarks over the years. In 2006, Biden said that "You can't go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.” And in 2008 he called Obama, "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean." In more recent years, Biden has continued to expose himself for what he really is. In 2019, Biden said that “Poor kids are just as bright as white kids,” and in 2020, Biden said that if an African American is having trouble deciding whether to vote for him or Trump, then “You ain’t Black.” So I hope that we all see through Biden’s little charade here.

Using race and gender as eligibility criteria is part of the larger issue of affirmative action. The lawsuit that is being brought against Harvard for discriminating against Asian Americans during admission processes is a clear example of this. As Dr. Ben Carson said, if Biden is able to use the description of “Black woman” to pick a nominee for the Supreme Court, “then who else can do it in the future using the criteria that they want, and completely ignoring all the progress that’s been made?” It is a dangerous precedent to put into place. We would feel rightly outraged if Biden had only permitted a white male to be nominated. Similarly, we should feel just as outraged by this. As Chief Justice Roberts famously said, “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” It is time to end identity politics.

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Photo Caption: Justice Stephen Breyer announcing his retirement alongside President Joe Biden

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons