Last week, with the news that longtime Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer would be stepping down at the end of the court’s current term, the news immediately shifted to who would President Biden pick to replace him? On the campaign trail in 2020, Biden promised to appoint a black woman to the court if he had the chance, a pledge which he appears to be on the verge of keeping as the White House starts vetting potential nominees.
Not everyone, however, thinks that Supreme Court vacancies should be considered based solely on race or gender as the guiding principles used when narrowing down a selection.
New polling from ABC News finds that a large majority of Americans would prefer Biden consider all possible nominees to find the best candidate rather than using race-based guidelines that look like affirmative action when selecting a nominee:
A new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds that a plurality of Americans view the Supreme Court as motivated by partisanship, while President Joe Biden’s campaign trail vow to select a Black woman to fill a high-court vacancy without reviewing all potential candidates evokes a sharply negative reaction from voters.
During the spring 2020 presidential primaries, days before his set of big wins on Super Tuesday, Biden pledged to nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court, if elected. Now, with the chance to do so, just over three-quarters of Americans (76%) want Biden to consider “all possible nominees.” Just 23% want him to automatically follow through on his history-making commitment that the White House seems keen on seeing through. At a ceremony honoring the retiring justice, Biden told reporters he is able to honor his promise without compromising on quality.
That’s three-quarters of the country not thrilled with Biden’s narrow selection process based exclusively on race and gender. In almost any other setting, either government or private, limiting a job down to a particular skin color or gender would be grounds for a lawsuit.
It’s understandable politically why Biden is making the move, he promised to do so on the campaign trail, and Democrats need black voters to get energized for the midterm elections and stop being so disappointed with the party.
The feeling, however, cuts across all political lines with even Democrats saying they aren’t crazy about using race as a qualifier:
Although the poll’s sample size was not large enough to break out results for Black people, only a little more than 1 in 4 nonwhite Americans (28%) wish for Biden to consider only Black women for the vacancy. Democrats are more supportive of Biden’s vow (46%) than Americans as a whole, but still a majority of Democrats (54%) also prefer that Biden consider all possible nominees.
Biden’s promise is intrinsically political and diametrically opposed to the concept of judging one’s character rather than one’s skin color. It would be better if Biden never made the promise but intended to do so quietly just to save this kind of criticism.
The Supreme Court is already seen as overly partisan in the way nominees are selected and battles rage in the Senate. It used to be the case that the main qualifier was the proper judicial experience and temperament. Now, thanks to Democrats, it’s basically about how a judge views Roe v. Wade and very little else.
Democrats turned the Supreme Court into another legislative body, using it to enact things like ObamaCare and same-sex marriage. Therefore, SCOTUS nominations are now akin to political campaigns.
In this case, Breyer’s replacement will be another liberal justice undoubtedly, so the stakes aren’t very high. Considering that fact, it’s hard to see how this particular nomination will do much to energize Democrats in November.
