(TheLibertyRevolution.com)- After spending a year as the target of a campaign by far-left dark money groups to force him off the Supreme Court, it was reported on Wednesday that Justice Stephen Breyer plans to retire at the end of the current term.
Now, Breyer had not intended to announce his retirement on Wednesday. But somebody, probably the White House, leaked his decision to the press.
Breyer, who was nominated by Bill Clinton and confirmed in 1994, is the oldest sitting Justice and one of three remaining Liberals currently serving on the conservative-majority court. After Biden’s inauguration, left-wing groups began a campaign to force Breyer to step down so the Democrat Biden could nominate a younger Liberal to replace him while Democrats hold the majority in the Senate.
As soon as the report of his retirement broke, the White House reiterated President Biden’s vow to nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court. Naturally, speculation erupted as to whom the President would choose.
And yes, that includes the absurd calls that Biden nominate his Vice President, Kamala Harris.
In an op-ed at the Wall Street Journal Wednesday evening, Georgetown law professor Jonathan Turley noted the irony that while the current court is taking up affirmative action cases against Harvard and the University of North Carolina, President Biden is making it clear that his only criteria for choosing Breyer’s replacement are skin color and gender.
While Turley concedes that Biden imposing a racial and gender litmus test for his nominee is “neither unlawful nor judicially reviewable,” he does point out that it is entirely unnecessary.
Turley said Biden could have selected a black woman while maintaining that he would consider all possible candidates based on “the totality of their records.” By limiting himself to only black women, Turley argues, Biden’s “short-list” will be a whole lot shorter.
Turley contends that Biden’s decision to expressly pledge to choose a black woman was a political one, meant to blunt the criticisms against him during the 2020 primary.
Turley notes there are only three leading candidates at Biden’s disposal: Justice Leondra Krueger of the California Supreme Court, US Circuit Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, and US District Judge Michelle Childs.
Turley argues that all three are “worthy candidates” who still would have made the short-list even without Biden declaring that they make the list “by virtue of filling a quota,” which Turley adds is “an unfortunate implication for the ultimate nominee.
