In any job search— let alone one for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court— those tasked with headhunting should be in search of the most qualified candidate for the position. And that’s who should ultimately get the job.
In regards to the list from which President Trump selected Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, his judicial adviser Leonard Leo said on June 28, “You can throw a dart at that list and in my view you would be fine.” In other words, they were all perfectly well qualified. That list included six women. Two were on Trump’s short list of five candidates.
Though Kavanaugh will likely turn out to be a fine justice, choosing an equally qualified female nominee should have been a priority for the president, considering his team seemed to believe there were equally qualified female nominees.
Men and women are different, regardless of what some people say these days. Those natural differences between the sexes are often salient in political contexts. Based on their lived experiences, members of each sex inevitably bring varying perspectives to key questions on health, family, marriage, children, and more. The Supreme Court is responsible for deciding cases that impact those aspects of our lives in dramatic ways. Though the crusade for strict and exact parity in every board room and legislative body has gotten silly, our society is healthier and more equitable when women have enough seats at the table— and on the bench.
Right now, the three women with a seat on the highest court in the land were all appointed by Democratic presidents. If not Amy Coney Barrett, surely there must have been some female judge in this country with a record that could meet the criteria of a Republican president, and could survive the forthcoming confirmation process, tough as it’s expected to be. Ensuring at least one of the five Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices is female was a legitimate and worthy pursuit. For the White House, this was a missed opportunity.
If the court is to take up significant, far-reaching abortion rights cases in the future, any all-male, five-vote majorities from Republican appointees will hurt the credibility of pro-life rulings in the eyes of the public whether conservatives like it or not.
None of this is to say Trump’s decision was an apocalyptic mistake at all. Quite the contrary. Conservatives have much to be pleased about when it comes to Kavanaugh. He’s a great nominee, and his confirmation will take the court in a positive direction. But with a list of qualified men and women, and a bench whose four sitting Republican appointees are all male, this was a missed opportunity for one of those five GOP-nominated justices to come from the other half of the population.
