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US Supreme Court building at night
The best news Democrats could have to start their midterm election year is the opportunity for President Biden to make history with his appointment of the first African American woman to the U.S. Supreme Court.
It will immediately focus voter attention on the race and gender issues at stake in November. Most Americans oppose the destruction of voting rights by Republican legislatures and the expected evisceration of constitutional protection for women’s reproductive freedom by the new Trumped-up rightwing Supreme Court.
Since Biden’s choice does nothing to change the 6-3 Trump court majority that could destroy constitutional rights for decades, Republicans would be smart to lie low without calling any more attention to their extremism before the midterms. But, of course, smart Republicans no longer control their party.
Tucker’s Vile Tirade
Even before Biden chooses anyone from a list of highly qualified African American female judges, Fox News is already attacking whoever he nominates as a dangerous radical. Sean Hannity ignorantly claimed excluding White males “could even be illegal.” In a vile 10-minute tirade, Tucker Carlson suggested Biden nominate the late George Floyd’s sister, sneering: “She is not a judge or a lawyer or whatever, but in this case, who cares?” The Wall Street Journal falsely editorialized choosing a Black woman “elevates skin color over qualifications.” Only among racist sexists who believe Black women are unqualified to hold jobs.
Out of 115 Americans who have sat on the Supreme Court, 110 have been men and 112 have been White. Only two men have been African American — Thurgood Marshall, appointed in 1967 by President Lyndon Johnson, and Clarence Thomas, appointed in 1991 by President George H. W. Bush to succeed Marshall.
Marshall was a civil rights icon. As chief counsel for the NAACP in 1954, he won the unanimous court decision in Brown v. Board of Education declaring racially segregated schools unconstitutional. Thomas been Marshall’s polar opposite on the court. Thomas consistently votes with rightwing White justices against any government action to increase racial equality in America.
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Adding Diversity
That makes it important for Biden to add more diversity on the court to protect the legal rights of the overwhelming majority of African Americans who have been without representation for three decades. That’s exactly what Biden promised to do in February 2020 before winning the South Carolina primary. “I’m looking forward to making sure there’s a Black woman on the Supreme Court” to assure the rights of all Americans are represented, Biden said.
Someone really should tell Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell voting rights and democracy are not radical, left-wing causes. They are American causes. Until Trump took over the Republican party, Democrats and Republicans peacefully transferred power whenever they lost presidential elections without sending a violent mob to storm the Capitol and overthrow democracy.
Every Senate Democrat will be united behind confirming Biden’s historic appointment. Senate Republicans are far more likely to break from their party’s openly racist opposition to appointing an African American woman to the court. McConnell’s desperate attempt to keep Trump’s lowlife racist supporters in the party makes it difficult for Senate Republicans to win in the suburbs where voters are more racially diverse and better educated than most Trump voters.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, a leading candidate for the nomination, was confirmed to the D.C. Court of Appeals in June by all 50 Democrats and three Republican Senators — Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and, brace yourself, Lindsey Graham. Three out of 50 Republican Senators is pathetic, but that’s practically a stampede against racism among Republicans these days.
Radical GOP Agenda
There will be plenty of painful reminders before the midterms of just how radically Republicans and their lopsided rightwing Supreme Court can change life in America. What Republicans call liberty will destroy freedom for all the rest of us. The freedom of women to control their own lives. The freedom of Americans to vote without politicians deciding whether to count their votes. The freedom of children to attend safe schools, read books and learn American history. The freedom of all Americans not to have someone else’s religious beliefs imposed upon them by law.
The only remaining question on abortion from this Supreme Court is whether women will lose the constitutional right to end their own pregnancies immediately or more slowly. In current civil war against America, the Supreme Court is siding with the Confederacy in favor of state’s rights. It’s already allowing Texas to abolish women’s rights.
The next battle is in the November midterms and the Republican Confederacy is counting on Americans not realizing their country is still under attack. The war didn’t end with the routing of Republicans a year ago. Democracy needs to solidify its victory by electing more Democrats in the House and Senate.
Democracy won in Wisconsin with record turnouts statewide in 2018 and 2020. Wisconsin needs to do it again in November while it still has the right to vote.
