Ted Cruz & the next Supreme Court Justice

I agree with you on terms limits for the Supreme Court and diversity.  However, by Biden specifically saying a black woman he eliminated other minority segments of the population.  Why not an Asian American or an openly gay or transgender person.  He played to a specific group of people to get their vote and boxed himself in on this.  

Regrettably, Cruz is only the tip of the iceberg. Republicans are losing their minds over this

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/28/race-baiting-response/

So it’s important to be clear about what I am, and am not, arguing. In assessing racism, I try to stick to the “what you said, not who you are” standard. With the occasional exception, we can judge a statement racist without peering into the heart of the speaker, which ends up sucking us into distractions about how many Black friends someone has.
Let’s consider some of what’s circulating on the right. On Fox News, Gregg Jarrett said Biden is violating the Civil Rights Act by promising to appoint a Black woman (and no, a Supreme Court appointment is not like an ordinary job opening). Sean Hannity claimed Biden’s pledge “may even be illegal.” Someone is clearly being discriminated against here, and it’s White people.
Conservative legal scholar Ilya Shapiro tweeted that rather than picking a male candidate Shapiro judged to be the “objectively best pick,” Biden would succumb to the “latest intersectional hierarchy” and choose a “lesser black woman.” (He later deleted the tweet and apologized.)

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal editorial page said choosing a Black woman “elevates skin color over qualifications,” as though it would be impossible to find a Black woman who is also qualified. “I mean, what kind of a qualification is that, being a Black woman?” asked Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo.

“They can overtly discriminate against people,” lamented Ben Shapiro. Tucker Carlson issued a nearly 10-minute rant about the injustice of it all, concluding with the suggestion that George Floyd’s sister should be the nominee.

“She is not a judge or a lawyer or whatever, but in this case, who cares?" Carlson said. “Clearly, that’s not the point anymore.”
So what’s racist about this? Aren’t they just advocating for equality?
Think about the assumption behind these objections: That if Biden promised to choose a Black woman and then did, whoever she is, that means she must be unqualified if her race were part of the reason she was chosen, or at the very least less qualified than someone who isn’t a Black woman. Why would that be?

hey look at someone such as reported leading contender Ketanji Brown Jackson — national oratory champion in high school, magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University, editor of the Harvard Law Review, Supreme Court clerk, experience as a trial and appeals court judge — and say there must be better candidates, if only Biden were open-minded enough to consider them.
Really? Like whom?

Here’s the reality of Supreme Court nominations: Hundreds of people clear the bar of qualifications and intelligence to serve. There’s no such thing as one most qualified candidate. Once a president is picking from that pool, other variables come into play: their age, their life experiences, their ideological inclinations, whether anything about them might complicate confirmation.

Every president takes those questions into consideration, and conservatives have supported some nominees precisely because of those ancillary qualities. They praised Amy Coney Barrett for being a mother of seven and for having not attended law school at Harvard or Yale like every other justice. They found that kind of diversity valuable.

One prominent conservative even wrote in 2018, “The main reason I favor Barrett, though, is the obvious one: She’s a woman.” More gender diversity among justices was seen as something Republicans should value.
Likewise, Brett M. Kavanaugh wasn’t chosen by President Donald Trump because he was the wisest jurist in the land. He was relatively young (then 53), so he could serve for a long time, and his years in Republican politics and stamp of approval from the Federalist Society assured Republicans that he’d be a reliable conservative vote. As an intellect, Kavanaugh is adequate, but no one claims he’s a generation-defining genius.
Conservatives have also conveniently forgotten that Ronald Reagan made a promise similar to Biden’s when he ran for president in 1980: He vowed to appoint the first female justice — and then did. When George H.W. Bush filled Thurgood Marshall’s seat with Clarence Thomas in 1991, everyone understood that Bush wanted to find a Black conservative.

But when a Democrat does the same thing, a noxious yet familiar narrative emerges: The true story of any advancement for a Black person, we’re told, is that White people are being victimized.
To repeat, it doesn’t matter whether conservatives expressing outrage that Biden will appoint someone with a stellar resume who is also a Black woman are genuinely motivated by racial animus. What matters is that they are quite intentionally engaged in a project of race-baiting, one that seeks to mobilize the racial fears and resentments of the Republican base.
They know exactly what they’re doing. And we shouldn’t let them claim otherwise.

I posted this on another thread, but I think Republican's biggest objections are
1. Biden is replacing a white male with a black woman
2. His choice will be liberal. The only platform that Republicans have is to oppose and obstruct anything Democrats try to do.

FFS Ted. Nominating a SC justice does not require some warped version of a cage match in which THE most qualified person is appointed! It has NEVER been about getting the “most qualified” nominee but rather a highly qualified nominee.

Barrett, Kavanaugh, and Gorsuch did not have to pass the “most qualified” test. (Hell, Kavanaugh didn’t even pass the “merely qualified” test!) Neither should Biden’s nominee.

Reagan pledged to nominate a woman and did, and the Senate confirmed 100% (or close to it). It was not seen as a “negative” when he made that pledge.

Trump promised to nominate a woman when Ginsburg died, and none of the conservatives up in arms over Biden’s pledge had anything to say about that.

IOKIYAR

I never said it was a problem, I merely made a statement which you can agree or disagree with.  All politicians play to their base, that’s how the game is played.  In this case I feel he got too specific.

I keep wondering what his agenda is.  This doesn't seem like the kind of statement he would make without some reason.  

I get what you're saying about Biden trying to get the black votes. 

But I'm not going to hold my breath wishing the republicans are going to suggest any of the above minorities, so I'm good with it.

Yes, exactly. They’re setting the stage for Manchin and Sinema to have “concerns” about the selection process.

This whole thing is a farce.

There are many qualified SP candidates across demographics. They’d have to be narrowed down, regardless. Why NOT pick a black woman? We don’t need another white guy on the bench. I think their perspective is well represented.

If more SP justices would like to step down (Roberts, Thomas, Alito), I’m sure Biden would pick from another minority group.

Maybe impeach Thomas for not respecting decorum by hearing cases his extremist right wife is involved in!!

Only 9 of the 40 Republicans voted for Sotomayor.  Surprisingly, Lindsay Graham voted to confirm.  He and Susan Collins might be the only ones still in the Senate.

Only 5 of 41 voted for Kagan.  Lindsay Graham and Susan Collins again.  Also, Judd Gregg from NH, Olympia Snow from ME and Lamar Alexander of TN.  All 3 are no longer in the Senate.

archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/us/politics/0731-sotomayor-vote.html

projects.propublica.org/represent/votes/111/senate/2/229

Lindsay Graham was one of the few Rs that voted for Kagan and Sotomayor, too, so no idea what his ulterior motives might be.

Maybe he is "showing support" for the candidate from his state that people like, knowing that she probably won't get the nomination.  Then he can be all upset and get people riled up against Biden for not choosing "their" candidate.

How quickly the GOP publicly “forgets”/ignores what McConnell and the rest of them did under the Obama administration to block Garland being placed on the court, only to do a complete about-face and force Coney Barrett through with less time left in Trump’s presidency.