President Joe Biden has announced Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as his Supreme Court nominee and is attempting to take a victory lap.
Unfortunately, the president’s rank identity politics have tainted what would otherwise be a historic moment for America.
“I’m proud to announce that I am nominating Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the Supreme Court,” Biden said in his Friday announcement. “Currently serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, she is one of our nation’s brightest legal minds and will be an exceptional Justice.”
Vice President Kamala Harris echoed the sentiment, noting Jackson is “eminently qualified to serve our nation on our highest court.”
“While she will be the first black woman on the Supreme Court, Judge Jackson will not be the last,” she added.
From all accounts, Biden and Harris are right about Jackson’s qualifications. She graduated Harvard Law School, received Republican votes when the Senate confirmed her to the D.C. Circuit, brings valuable criminal defense the Supreme Court currently lacks, and has testimony from folks as ideologically distant as Paul Ryan, to whom she is (very) distantly related, to laud her character.
Jackson could have been an excellent selection for a Democratic president in her own right and indeed made history as the first black woman on the nation’s high court. However, Biden engaged in a tokenistic, exclusionary, identity-based selection process through which he categorically ruled out all men and non-black women from consideration. He specifically made it clear he would only consider black women. The president narrowed the pool of candidates down to a tiny percentage of qualified individuals based on sex and race that do not affect one’s ability to be a good judge.
This was discriminatory, divisive, and un-American. But it was also profoundly condescending and insulting to Jackson and other black female judges.
Rightly or wrongly, Jackson, if confirmed, will always have questions lingering over whether she would’ve been selected in the absence of blatant racial selection. By openly making his selection about race and gender politics, Biden attempted to appease and pander to the woke Left. Yet, that came at the price of doing Jackson a grave disservice.
Contrast this experience to the election of former President Barack Obama. Whether one loved or despised his politics, most Americans appreciated the profound historical significance of the country electing our first black president. It was a sign of how far we’ve come since the terrible days of slavery and the limitless opportunity available to all in our imperfect yet wonderful nation.
On his way to the Oval Office, Obama defeated competitors of all races and sexes. Democratic primary voters and then the general electorate decided he was the best man for the job. Now imagine how differently Obama’s accomplishment would be viewed if the Democratic Party had announced only black candidates were allowed to run in their 2008 presidential primary. Yikes.
This is what Biden has done to Jackson. It is an insult — and a fundamentally unnecessary one.
Even if Biden was only determined to pick a black woman, he never had to say so outright. He could’ve considered a short list that included all types of Americans and then intentionally, albeit quietly, selected a black woman anyway. This would’ve allowed Biden to achieve the same outcome without the profound divisiveness and insult of selecting a nominee through open racial and gender discrimination. Even that would have been so much better for the country. But it wouldn’t have gotten the president the same attaboys from the liberal media and the woke Left, I suppose.
It’s a pity, both for Americans at large and Jackson, that the president made such a profoundly selfish decision.
Brad Polumbo (@Brad_Polumbo) is a co-founder of Based-Politics.com, a co-host of the BasedPolitics podcast, and a Washington Examiner contributor.
