Neomi Rao is a brilliant legal mind and an extremely well-qualified pick to replace Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. But because she’s a rising star on the Right who has been floated as a potential replacement for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she must be destroyed. So it’s natural that the Left is trying to make her the latest victim of character assassination.
On Monday, Buzzfeed published a story that dredged up some op-eds Rao wrote as an undergraduate at Yale in the 1990s. My colleague Quin Hillyer already posted on how the story distorted her work to portray it in the worst possible light. But it’s worth also looking at the process behind the article.
The story notes that it was the “the liberal advocacy group Alliance for Justice” that “first highlighted Rao’s college writings to BuzzFeed News.” In other words, the story was based on opposition research conducted by a liberal group that is tasked with fighting conservative judicial appointments. The story then quoted Nan Aron, the president of the Alliance for Justice. Buzzfeed’s report was then picked up by numerous other news outlets including Huffington Post, Glamour, CNN, and Newsweek.
With the hit pieces out in the media, Alliance for Justice then issued a press release titled, “Rao’s Writings are Disqualifying,” that claimed the organization had “learned” about the writings, citing media reports.
So, to sum up: A liberal group dumped oppo to the media, the media played it up, then the liberal group cited those media reports to proclaim the nominee disqualified.
This, of course, isn’t merely about one circuit court nomination. As Alliance for Justice’s Aron put it in the Buzzfeed story, “She shouldn’t be awarded a seat on what many view as the second highest court in the country, which is often a stepping stone to the Supreme Court.”
This is why the long knives came out for Rao. The story was published as speculation has been swirling on Ginsburg’s future on the Supreme Court following absences from oral arguments as she recovers from cancer surgery. All indications are that the surgery was successful, that there are no remaining signs of cancer, and that she is not leaving the court. But questions about her health prompted stories in which Rao was floated as a possible replacement, under the assumption that were Ginsburg to be replaced, it would be with another female candidate. Politico also reported that Rao is on a list prepared by the White House about potential replacements.
Though the college writings won’t block Rao’s nomination to the D.C. Circuit, given that Republicans have 53 seats and there is no filibuster of judicial nominees, the hit job should be seen as the opening salvo in the potential battle to replace Ginsburg.
Should Ginsburg leave the court with a Republican as president, and should that Republican appoint a conservative female to replace a liberal feminist icon, it would make the Kavanaugh confirmation battle look like a joke.
Even though this isn’t a reality at the moment, the possibility is enough to put liberal groups on high alert, and open fire on any potential future nominee.
The hope is that given the latest spate of stories, if Rao is ever appointed to the Supreme Court, these articles will come up close to the top of Google searches for people trying to learn about the new appointee and will be included in the emails that opposition groups such as the Alliance for Justice send out to reporters the moment the nominee is announced. That way, if Rao were ever appointed, the early stories would include a line high up about how she was confirmed as a D.C. Circuit judge only after “controversial writings emerged.”
Conservatives better be well-prepared for this potential fight because liberals won’t be messing around.
