Now is the time for a Black woman on the Supreme Court
This is the Our View, prepared by the Editorial Board and the institutional voice of The Record.
Last week, Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement from the Supreme Court of the United States, concluding a career principally focused on pragmatism, cooperation and practicality.
Throughout his career on the bench, Justice Breyer notably authored a majority opinion maintaining women’s access to decide on their abortion, vocally questioned the constitutionality of capital punishment in Glossip v. Gross and authored a consequential opinion to the display of the Ten Commandments.
In response to the retirement, President Biden said, “The person I will nominate will be somebody with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience and integrity…And that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court.”
The President additionally described the historical absence of Black woman on the bench as “long overdue.”
This statement, an intentional reinforcement of a previously stated campaign promise, was met with great criticism. Apart from outliers such as U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, Congressional Republicans have widely opposed the President’s racial distinction in the upcoming appointment.
Few Republicans in Congress, however, offered less productive feedback to the President’s promise than U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, who described the promise as “offensive” and “insulting.”
That being said, The Record Editorial Board endorses the “long overdue” appointment of a Black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court, as the historical absence is both “offensive” and “insulting.”
For context, of the Supreme Court’s 114 justices, all but six have been white men and only four have been women. President Biden’s appointment of a Black woman next month will be historically consequential to the same degree as President Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1967 appointment of Justice Thurgood Marshall.
The magnitude of homogeneity with respects to race and gender throughout the history of the Supreme Court is staggering. Rewriting history and changing this narrative is essential to delivering justice to future generations of Americans.
Present day, Black women represent about seven percent of the United States’ 300-million-person population. Given the Biden Administration’s ambition to appoint justices of the highest qualifications, legal experience and judgement, tapping into our population of Black women is essential. It is important to have this representation.
Further, current shortlists reveal the Biden Administration’s vast array of well-qualified candidates, most often containing Court of Appeals Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger, civil rights lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill and more.
Additionally, Democrats such as U.S. Representative James Clyburn have advocated for the President to consider J. Michelle Childs. Childs, the first in her family to attend to college, overcame both the death of her father at a young age and modest beginnings. These experiences would aid her in conveying nuance to an almost exclusively Ivy League Court.
Though life experience should not be the only factor considered in the selection of Justices, this factor along with experience and expertise guide our view of understanding of candidacy. Though the term “diversity” in practice is a euphemism for race, other factors such as gender and experience paint the picture of a nuanced, less elitist view.
Senator Cruz’s statements regarding the President Biden’s selection upcoming Supreme Court selection process directly contradict the principles of understanding and practicality which Justice Breyer championed. A Black woman’s place is in the House, Senate and now–though overdue–the Supreme Court.