Remember the last time Biden pledged to pick a black woman for a recent high-profile appointment? So far, Kamala Harris isn’t working out as planned. That’s not to say Biden can’t find an excellent and supremely qualified nominee of any background, he most certainly will. The question is why hem yourself in such a way that screams a degree of prejudice in the way you announce it?
Can a non-white nominee not rule on the law the same way a nominee of color can? You’d think the law is the law, but not in the eyes of the Democratic Party which views everything exclusively by skin color, and little more.
Are we to take from Biden’s pledge that it’s now acceptable for government positions to be held open or exclusively reserved for candidates of specific skin color or gender? It sure seems that way:
BREAKING: Biden confirms he will nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court, and says he intends to announce his decision before the end of February.
"It's long overdue, in my view. I made that commitment during the campaign for president, and I will keep that commitment." pic.twitter.com/1ryXzVv8Yv
— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 27, 2022
This must be one of the only instances where it’s perfectly fine to exclusively make a selection based predominantly on race and gender, something that in almost every other circumstance would be grounds for a legitimate lawsuit.
As noted yesterday, following the news that Breyer was stepping down, liberal opinion writers were quick to remind Biden of his 2020 campaign trail promise to black voters in South Carolina:
During a debate just days before voting began in South Carolina, Biden made a promise to Black voters. Everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity and everyone should be represented on the Supreme Court, he said: “I’m looking forward to making sure there’s a Black woman on the Supreme Court, to make sure we in fact get every representation.”
Black voters gave Biden the victory he needed, one that turned his campaign around and arguably set him on a path to win the nomination.
Biden need Breyer’s retirement, and he needed it right now. There is nothing else positive coming out of the White House for anyone in the Democratic Party base to get excited over. Now they’ll have a new Supreme Court Justice to show off in a month or two:
This opening could not have come at a better time for Biden. He is struggling in the polls, unable to overcome Republican obstructionism and resistance from within his own party to deliver on several of the major promises he made to Black voters, such as passing federal police reforms and voter protections.
Poll after poll has pointed to growing dissatisfaction among Black voters.
Beyond ongoing issues like the economy, fulfilling this campaign promise is one area where Biden can actually bring home the bacon. It’s abundantly obvious that not much is going to change on the inflation front, the supply chain remains a crisis, the southern border is still a porous disaster being swept under the rug, what else does Biden have?
The cynic would say Breyer has been waiting for a time to announce and was perhaps nudged by the White House to make it happen and change the news cycle. From now until the new nominee is seated, the Supreme Court pick will eat up time among the talking heads.
There probably won’t be much of a fight from Republicans unless Biden picks an unqualified nominee. He’s replacing a liberal Stephen Breyer with another liberal, presumably, so there will be no upset to the balance of the court.
Instead, Biden gets to stroll around with at least a new fresh face in Washington and someone that will be his lasting legacy on the court for a few decades.
The longer Biden holds out on naming a nominee, the closer he’ll get to the midterms in the fall, and the better the issue can energize complacent Democrats to make sure they vote to try and hold the Senate in case another SCOTUS nominee should arise after the midterms.
