Discussing or attempting to balance controversial viewpoints is never an easy task, and ones on Critical Race Theory, or the opinions of Joe Rogan, Whoopi Goldberg or the objections raised by those on the right about President Biden’s promise to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court, are a few of the recent iterations erupting on media platforms.
Let’s take the latter of these issues, and perhaps the most pertinent one for many Americans concerned about the course of social and political developments.
Currently, Biden has not chosen a candidate and three names have been bandied about as possible choices—J. Michelle Childs, a judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina; Ketanji Brown Jackson, a judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; and Leondra Reid Kruger, an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California.
Each one is highly regarded and would expand the notion of diversity considerably with the addition of the first Black woman on the bench. Depending on what part of the country you favor, the age, or the political connections of the candidates, all three almost comprise a virtual tie in recommendations and qualifications.
On the surface, Biden has a no-lose proposition, but to hear the volume of dissent on the right from such prominent elected GOP members as Sen. Ted Cruz and a chorus of media commentators, the women are not representative of the overall American population. Well, these naysayers don’t have to look too far back to recall President Reagan’s choice and how he justified nominating Sandra Day
O’Connor in 1981, an obvious choice to bolster his presidential bid.
We see very little difference between Reagan’s decision to place a woman on the Court than Biden’s choice to place a Black woman on the highest court. No, it won’t change the ideological outlook, which would remain at 6 to 3. But it is a step toward balancing the court, a far cry from trying to balance the differing opinions mentioned at the start of this editorial.
No matter which candidate of the three is nominated, there is sure to be more pushback from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Sen. Dick Durbin has the gavel. But when the rancor dies down, it will be time to raise a different roar of celebration as we welcome the first Black woman to the Supreme Court.