After President Biden’s unexpected 2020 victory in South Carolina, thanks to the African American vote and Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) — which saved his nearly doomed presidential bid — then-candidate Biden promised Black voters that if a vacancy on the Supreme Court arose during his presidency, he would nominate a Black woman to fill it. Last month, when Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement, Biden reaffirmed his campaign commitment.
Black people should not be defined solely by the color of our skin. While I recognize that race is a fundamental feature of our lives and cultures in this country, I believe that Black people are intellectually capable of the same academic excellence as their white counterparts. If Biden’s candidate has the expertise and can survive hard questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, and happens to be a Black woman, that’s a win for Black Americans and the entire country. However, the nominee’s qualifications for the job should take precedence over race and gender.
To put it bluntly, as long as our country’s leaders play the race card when it comes to crucial appointments, we will never break the cycle and place the focus where it belongs: on merit alone. We’ve put so much emphasis on gender and race that we’ve degraded the hard work of people who happen to be women or Black. We now appear to live in a culture where the success of individuals of color and women is largely determined by race and gender, rather than effort, brains and tenacity.
Biden isn’t the first president to make such statements about a Supreme Court justice nominee. Ronald Reagan vowed to nominate a woman and chose Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. George H.W. Bush chose Justice Clarence Thomas to replace Thurgood Marshall, a legendary Black justice. Following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Donald Trump indicated that he would appoint a woman to the court; he nominated Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Though each of these justices has outstanding credentials, each was chosen for political reasons and gender or ethnicity played a role in their selection.
We should praise the qualified judges across the country — many of whom are Latino, Asian, Black or women — for their brilliance, hard work and experience. People are more than their skin color, and we must do our best to constantly remind ourselves of this simple truth.
Hopefully, someday, a political leader will take a small step of courage and refuse to pander when it is evident that pandering is the road of least resistance. Instead, he or she will do the right thing and speak to a person’s abilities regardless of their gender or race.
President Biden has demonstrated to America that he is not is not that leader and his is not that party — a sad fact. His administration and the Democratic Party are in disarray, so I understand why, in addition to wanting to keep a campaign pledge, he’ll say and do what he believes he needs to say and do politically. But now it’s time for the real test: What will Senate Republicans do?
Their response will help decide whether the GOP retakes both chambers of Congress in this fall’s midterm elections. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has stated that he would favor J. Michelle Childs, a U.S. District Court judge in his home state, for Breyer’s seat on the high court.
Republicans would be advised to play this court pick cautiously and allow the process to work, because having no agenda is not an agenda. They ought to let Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) schedule floor time and carry the nomination through quickly. Let the president nominate anyone he wants; it is his right. When the dust settles, though, negate any “victory” that Biden could claim with progressives and move on to other issues that are important to Americans.
To put it another way: Don’t give the Democrats a hill on which to die, making Republicans appear to be out-of-touch Neanderthals or, even worse, the racists that liberals portray them to be. Everyone will object if Biden’s team chooses a political hack from the left; otherwise, a Black woman with good constitutional jurisprudence certainly makes sense in 2022. So, confirming the nominee and moving on is the only playbook that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) should follow.
Armstrong Williams (@ARightSide) is the owner and manager of Howard Stirk Holdings I & II Broadcast Television Stations and the 2016 Multicultural Media Broadcast Owner of the Year. He is the author of “Reawakening Virtues.”