Liberal Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has announced his retirement, this summer, as he approaches his 84th birthday. Clearly, this is a decision is a partisan one, with the democrats currently holding the house, Senate, and White House, which is reflective of our broken system where Supreme Court justices are picked based on partisan politics, not necessarily their qualifications.
It seems like President Joe Biden is playing identity politics with his expected choices, all being black women, making a big point about the next Supreme Court Justice being a black woman. I’m all for a more diverse Supreme Court, but the next Justice should not be picked simply because of their gender or race, that’s the wrong road to go down. It comes across as pandering to the black community, in my opinion.
My wife, who is a black woman herself, has a different opinion, if President Biden does not force the issue, pushing a black woman to the Supreme Court, it will never happen, due to the mentality of some, that black people are lesser than white people, often being overlooked or undermined. Unfortunately, the US has not reached a point where race is not an issue, despite the conservative narrative that racism does not exist, it is still a huge issue, even more so in the past five years, where racists feel emboldened.
I fear that should a black woman be appointed to the Supreme Court, the right-wing will push the agenda that she is not qualified and only got the job because of her race. Which could be a dog whistle to the extreme right, who will threaten Biden’s first SCOTUS judge’s life, maybe even attempting a hit on her, or scaring her into stepping down, all it takes is one crazy motherfucker to take up arms.
Democrats can confirm any SCOTUS nominee without a single Republican vote, thanks to former leader Mitch McConnell abolishing the filibuster on high court nominations, which allowed them to push Amy Coney Barret to the court in the dying moments of the Trump administration. But, that requires that the likes of Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin vote for Biden’s nominee, which is not in any way guaranteed.
And of course, Republicans will try every trick in the book to block the confirmation until after the midterm elections, where they are expected to retake the house and Senate, due to Biden’s failure to deliver on his election promises, thanks to Mr. Manchin and Ms. Sinema, blocking the abolishment of the filibuster, which requires 60 votes to pass any legislation, effectively killing any progressive priorities.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said that any Biden nomination will get a prompt hearing and vote. This is a matter of urgency, as should the GOP retake the Senate in 2023, there is zero chance that a Biden nominee would be confirmed. And, if a Republican wins the 2024 presidential election, that’ll be another conservative Justice on the high court, making it a 7 – 2 conservative biased SCOTUS.
