Lady Justice

Lady Justice is depicted as blind – exemplifying impartiality.  But apparently the search for our new Lady Justice, one of nine who will often be the final arbiter of what is Constitutional and fair, is not only not blind or impartial, it is racist and unconstitutional as well.

There is nothing wrong with having a Supreme Court Justice who is a Black female.  What is wrong is if the selection criteria focus exclusively on those identity characteristics.

President Biden, by announcing that he will select a Black female to replace Justice Breyer is acting in a racist and discriminatory manner.  He has omitted from consideration, based solely on race, color, gender, all otherwise qualified individuals who simply happen to be male or women who are not Black.  (The trans advocates might also be concerned that he is also apparently excluding trans people from consideration.)

Does the President think that a Black female is only capable of achieving this position if other qualified applicants are excluded from consideration?  And is he asking the potential candidates if they can fairly consider the affirmative action case that will be before the Court next term if they were effectively chosen to their position by affirmative action criteria?  Should the Black female who was picked in not an open consideration process but by excluding all potential competitors who were not Black and female be involved in assessing the constitutionality of a process that does just that?

When President Reagan selected the first female Justice to sit on the Court, he did not hide his desire to select a female for the position.  But he did not exclude non-females from consideration.  Thus, when Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was nominated, she had beat out ALL the competition, not just those with identity characteristics similar to hers.  Biden’s pick, even if she well might have beaten an open field, will not be able to make that same claim. 

Our Constitution and laws prohibit discrimination based on race, color, ethnicity, and sex.  Yet Biden’s pledge to look only for and ultimately select only a Black female is a perfect example of such prohibited discrimination.   Of course, when did Biden (or any Leftist) let the Constitution stand in the way of what they wanted?

I assume that Biden’s selection will ultimately be confirmed.  I also assume that the new Justice will be a qualified jurist who will vote with the other liberal justices, as did Breyer.  But even if she is a brilliant jurist, somehow the Court is weakened by the manner of her selection.

Beyond this particular case, the problem with such discriminatory practices is that they reflect the Left’s demeaning attitude (that they will vehemently deny) that women and people of color are not capable of doing as well as white males without some assistance from the Left.  This attitude is indeed racist and sexist – it views certain classes of people as less than:  less capable, less qualified, less intelligent.  For if Black women are as capable as their non-black non-female peers, they would not need to have a selection pool limited to them only. 

I believe that there are indeed Black female jurists who can hold their own against other potential candidates for the Supreme Court.  There are Black women who could be selected without the qualifying criteria of being Black and female.

Unfortunately, Biden and the Left will not allow these Black women to show us their true qualifications in an unbiased selection process because this administration apparently believes the only way to put a Black female on the court is to change the playing field and raise identity factors to be the prime qualification, thus lowering things such as legal skills and experience to something less.  They seem to hold the demeaning belief that Black women cannot hold their own.

This is not good for the Court, but it is even worse for America.  Our Constitution pronounces us to all be equal.  Setting different rules for different groups of people reflects a belief that the Constitution is not correct and that some people are less equal than others. 

Democrats may see this as some sort of act furthering equity.  But equity is not equality and instead creates categories that become degrading of certain identifiable groups.  Groups that become “less than” because they are seen as needing special treatment in order to succeed.  It is racist in every sense of the word, and it is sad that our President furthers such nonsense.