Courts

Georgetown Law's Newest Hire Thinks Biden Will Nominate 'Lesser Black Women' To The Supreme Court

Nice way to get you and your school some media attention after just hiring you, I guess.

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Since the news of Justice Stephen Breyer’s coming retirement, many of us have felt uneasy. After the initial surprise of hearing about Breyer’s retirement — and the dearth of ice cream-related humor — my mind jumped to wondering if Biden, like Obama, will just end up getting Merrick’d again. Of course things are different now — Democrats control the Senate. But if the beginning of Trump’s Joker Arc has taught us anything, it should be that politics come with ripples.

The appointment of the first Black woman for SCOTUS being all but guaranteed is nice, but I’m still worried about what happens now. I know I’m not the only one. The nomination hopefuls, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Leondra Kruger, are both are well-decorated and qualified, but where is Black success, there is white backlash.

Though they are not the only ones, the figureheads of this occasion’s saltiness are Ilya Shapiro and Ben Shapiro. For the sake of clarity, I’ll be referring to them both by first name throughout.

Though Ilya’s tweet has since been deleted, Twitter remembers all.

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I think that Ben’s take is the run-of-the-mill one that everyone expected. And in a vacuum, it even makes sense. But when you look at the accusation that “this” decision is affirmative action from a historical approach, or that Biden is doing something unique by preferring candidates over others, the argument breaks down a bit. White folks have been benefiting from affirmative action for centuries. Of the 115 SCOTUS justices we’ve had since inception, seven of them have not been white men. Given that the decision to nominate a Black woman comes after centuries of white maleness being a requirement to don the robes, it reeks of bad faith to say that decisions ought be made without regard to identity when done in the name of equity.

And the argument that the only real qualification for Biden’s nominated judge be that they vote “Left” on issues… Amy Coney Barrett is one of the least experienced judges to take the bench in the last 30 years. And besides the not being able to name the five freedoms in the First Amendment at her confirmation hearing, there is this whole thing.

Ben has nice Reddit-level rhetorical race bait flourishes, but I don’t think they  really hold up under scrutiny.

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The real issue is Ilya’s “intersectionality hierarchy” argument. We really couldn’t make it one day before some dude pits the minorities against each other, Oppression Olympics style? There is no doubt that Sri Srinivasan or Goodwin Liu would make phenomenal justices, but whataboutism? In this economy? You know the nominations are good when naysayers have to resort to red herrings instead of addressing the merits of the candidates. The thing that makes this such good bait — presenting a model minority as you put down a class (the “lesser Black women” ad hom) is that it occasionally prompts the classic crabs-in-a-bucket response. The right move here is a recognition of solidarity that does not come at each other’s expense.

This tweet is just a double dunk on both Shapiros. C’est la vie.

 

In response people, notably Georgetown Law’s alum, have been taking Ilya to task.

This isn’t Ilya’s first time, of course.

Even the Dean of  GULC spoke out against Ilya’s choice of words. Kind of.

Without there being some actual consequence to his actions, this just reads to me as a stern finger wagging.

I can’t wait to find out a Black woman CALI‘s this dude’s classes at Georgetown.

As a parting gift, I often do wonder how America’s history would have played out if not for the last 200 or so years of white affirmative action. Despite the long history of Black folks being given a harder time for doing the same thing, the specter of meritocracy is ever present.

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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