President Joe Biden could announce his nominee for the Supreme Court vacancy any time now, though it’s possible Russian President Vladimir Putin’s irrational aggression against Ukraine will supersede that for the next few days. The vacancy is being created by the pending retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer, and Biden is going to nominate a Black woman to the seat, as he promised when he was running for office.
That was a bold promise and will be a bold move, one that is long overdue. TheGrio reports that “high-ranking White House officials” held a series of calls with allies Sunday night, gearing them up to help combat Republican attacks, which they warn will “be about affirmative action, and race and gender.”
That’s a degree of awareness that’s welcome from White House officials, because the president himself—along with a bunch of Senate Democrats—seem to think that it’s worth bringing some Republicans on board to support his eventual nominee. While he’s “actively looking for Republican support,” Politico reports, “he’s doing it cautiously, wary of setting expectations that end in failure.”
Politico also reports that, in numerous interviews, “Senate Democrats suggested that they would also like to see a broad bipartisan vote.” They are operating under the bizarre assumption that having Republican votes “would send a signal to the public that the high court isn’t as politicized as many perceive it to be.” The theory seems to be that Justices Thomas, Alito, Kavanaugh, and Gorsuch will feel compelled to moderate their behavior if there’s a bipartisan vote for the new justice. Or perhaps worse—that the public will perceive their actions as less extreme if a Republican votes for Biden’s nominee. Which is pretty much bonkers.
Here’s how one Democrat inexplicably sees it: “For the institution, it’s important because the Supreme Court has become so polarized that a bipartisan vote might well help to begin to restore some of the credibility it has lost,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat. As if the radical, unprecedented actions of the six extremists on the court taking a sledgehammer to the entire Democratic agenda, not to mention core civil and political rights, won’t be so bad if a few Republicans vote for a liberal replacement among the minority.
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That any Democrat in 2022 could look at what this Supreme Court has done and is preparing to do and think that its “credibility” could be restored if a handful of Republican senators approve Biden’s nominee is sadly all too believable. At least it’s not the main thing to worry about, says Blumenthal. “But I don’t think that ought to be a decisive question to the president.”
Well, good. Because here’s what Republicans are doing out in the wild, with no condemnation from any of their colleagues: “Ted Cruz says Joe Biden pledging a Black Supreme Court pick should be ‘illegal.’”
Yep, that’s the message from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Fox News this weekend. “Democrats today believe in racial discrimination, they’re committed to it as a political proposition,” Cruz said. “I think it is wrong to stand up and say, ‘We’re going to discriminate; this administration is going to discriminate.’ What the president said is that only African-American women are eligible for this slot. They said that 94% of Americans are ineligible.”
Of course it’s not just Cruz. Even Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who periodically tries to remember to be respectable because he’s in leadership and wants to be conference leader some day, has gotten in on the racism. First he did some concern trolling, saying he was worried Biden would “tie his own hands” by insisting on just Black women for candidates for this seat. “If you’re Asian, you’d say, ‘I guess I can’t compete with this nomination because he’s decided to pick an African American,’” Cornyn said. Because Cornyn is really looking out for Asian Americans out there.
Nevertheless, Biden has been on the phone with Republican Sens. Susan Collins (ME), Lisa Murkowski (AK), and Mitt Romney (UT). He’s also spoken with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and met with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), top Republican on the Judiciary Committee. Who knows whether he’s doing it out of courtesy to his former Republican colleagues or because he’s really thinking that if he just picks the right nominee, he’ll get those Republicans. Just like back in the day when then-President Barack Obama took Republican “endorsements” to heart and nominated Merrick Garland to the high court.
We all sure remember how that turned out. Let that be a lesson to Biden and every other Democrat who lived through it about what Republicans are capable of doing. Now it seems that instead of pointing to the fact that this Supreme Court has been taken over by the radical right and is quickly destroying the entirety of the Democratic and democratic agenda, these Democrats are providing cover for it. It really is remarkably naive and irresponsible to take bipartisanship this far.
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