Third Circuit Judge Calls Out Ketanji Brown Jackson Detractors For Their 'Hypocritcal' Arguments
Would these questions about qualifications have been if a white male were the SCOTUS nominee?
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There’s hypocrisy to these comments though. The notion that affirmative action implies a diminution of quality is simply wrong. … The question in the minds of decision-makers is still, ‘I’ll tolerate a woman, I’ll tolerate a person of color, but they’ve got to be qualified,’ intrinsically implying skepticism regarding qualifications. If Biden had nominated a white male with a similar background as Judge Jackson, as is true frankly of the entire court, no one would be asking here whether their whiteness and their maleness might be a dispositive factor towards whether they were qualified for the job.
That is the hypocrisy of those who bring affirmative action into this conversation. For women and minorities, their identity, their very essence, is debated by pundits and politicians as plusses and minuses. … On the other hand, no one raises or even questions the identity or bona fides of a white man in the same manner.
— Judge Joseph Greenaway Jr. of the Third Circuit, in comments on just some of the flawed arguments that have been made against Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the D.C. Circuit, during a speaking engagement at Seton Hall Law. “We should instead be asking ourselves,” Greenaway said, “‘Will her incredible knowledge, experience and intellect make the court a better institution, and will she help the court to serve this country better, and will her individual perspective diversify the views of the court, both in conference and in the work of the court?’”
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.
