Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York is making things up again.
The senate majority leader claimed Thursday the Supreme Court was all white and all men until as recently as 1981, the year former President Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O’Connor to serve as the first woman on the court.
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The late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, who was black, likely would have disagreed with Schumer’s version of history.
“Until 1981, this powerful body, the Supreme Court, was all white men,” said the New York senator. “Imagine. America wasn’t all white men in 1981, or ever. Under President Biden and this Senate majority, we’re taking historic steps to make the courts look more like the country they serve.”
Marshall, who, again, was black, was confirmed to the Supreme Court on Aug. 30, 1967, where he served as an associate justice until 1991.
Happy Black History Month!
More seriously, this is low for Schumer precisely because this wasn’t just some dumb flub. This wasn’t some off-the-cuff silliness, such as former President Donald Trump describing Frederick Douglas as “an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more.” (Happy Black History Month!)
The senator’s remarks came on the Senate floor from the pages of a prepared speech. He didn’t merely misremember a year. He didn’t merely misread his speech. He wasn’t winging it. There was a purpose and a reason for his false claim. His entire point was to argue the United States is a uniquely regressive country, one whose highest court was all white men as recently as 1981.
It’s one thing to argue the U.S. still has a long way to go as far as inclusivity and equality are concerned. But it’s another thing entirely to fabricate “facts.” What Schumer did Thursday is the congressional version of what New York Times Magazine staffer Nikole Hannah-Jones did when she falsely claimed the American War for Independence was fought primarily to preserve slavery (she even won a Pulitzer for this bunkum). The preservation of slavery most certainly was not anything even close to the chief reason for the war, as the New York Times Magazine itself conceded later in a series of corrections (Hannah-Jones still has her Pulitzer). Chattel slavery was bad enough without having to rewrite history.
Likewise, one can argue the U.S. can do a better job of being more inclusive without having to fabricate “facts.” The argument is right there to be made! You don’t have to make up stories.
Lastly, and this is a bit of an aside, but we really ought to note the irony of Schumer praising President Joe Biden for “taking historic steps to make the courts look more like the country they serve.” As the chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee, then-Sen. Biden in 1991 led the “high-tech lynching” of then-Supreme Court Justice nominee Clarence Thomas, who is black. Biden threw everything he had at Thomas, including scurrilous and flimsy allegations of sexual misconduct. Thomas ultimately prevailed and was confirmed to the Supreme Court, despite Biden’s best efforts to sink the nomination and the man.
Happy Black History Month!
