WHEN BIDEN BLOCKED A BLACK WOMAN FROM BECOMING SUPREME COURT JUSTICE

New York City NY

Description

Today Joe Biden wants to be known as the President who will put the first black woman on the Supreme Court. But when he was a Senator in 2005, he led a mob of Democrats to derail the potential nomination of Judge Janice Rogers Brown. What Happened? In 2005, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement, so it was then-President George W. Bush's responsibility to nominate a new Justice. On his shortlist was Judge Janice Rogers Brown. She was extremely qualified. Her resume included: She was currently serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. which is seen as the second-most important court and has produced more Supreme Court justices than any other federal court. She spent seven years as an associate justice of the California Supreme Court, the first Black woman to do so. She rose from poverty and put herself through college and UCLA law school. But Joe Biden didn't want her to sit on the Supreme Court. Despite all her qualifications, she had one fatal flaw to him. She was an outspoken conservative. He threatened to Filibuster her selection: Joe Biden, at the time, was a very powerful Senator, sitting on the Senate Judiciary Committee. And he fired a warning shot at President Bush while appearing on CBS 'Face the Nation' saying that if Bush nominated her: "I can assure you that would be a very, very, very difficult fight and she probably would be filibustered." This was unprecedented at the time. In 2005, there had never been a successful filibuster of a nominee for associate justice. Ever. But Joe Biden was happy to challenge history in order to prevent the first Black woman from serving on the Supreme Court. What does that say about his character?