Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) proved how powerful identity politics are during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopolous. Despite saying that he will vote against confirming Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, he said that her confirmation would be a “high point for the country.”
“My sense is that the president certainly had every good intention and every right in the campaign to talk about putting the first black woman on the court,” Blunt said. “I think it’s time for that to happen. I was hoping that I could be part of that. I had a great conversation with her.”
Ah yes, “being a part of that.” I remember hearing some Republicans say in 2008 that they wanted to vote for Barack Obama to be “a part of” something as historic as electing the first black president. That didn’t exactly work out well for the country, now did it? Granted, Blunt is opposing her nomination; his uttering that sentiment makes me cringe because it tells you that all the rhetoric about “the first black woman on the Supreme Court” was nevertheless an effective strategy for Biden, the White House, and the Democratic Party.
“The judicial philosophy seems to be not the philosophy of looking at what the law says, and the Constitution says and applying that, but going through some method that allows you to try to look at the Constitution as a more flexible document and even the law, and there are cases that show that that’s her view,” Blunt continued. “She’s certainly going to be confirmed. It will be a high point for the country to see her go on the court and take her unique perspective to the court. I don’t think she’s the kind of judge that will do the work that I think needs to be done by the court. I won’t be supporting her. I’ll be joining others in understanding the importance of this moment.”
Of course, George Stephanopoulos picked up on the apparent contradiction and asked, “If it’s a high point for the country, why not support her?”
“Well, I think the lifetime appointments have a different criteria,” Blunt explained.
Let’s be blunt: Ketanji Brown Jackson’s inevitable confirmation will not be a high point for our country. Let’s not get distracted by identity politics here. Yes, she is a black woman, but she will neither be the first black person on the court nor the first woman on the court. The glass ceiling for the Supreme Court has long been broken, so let’s not be distracted by Jackson’s race or gender because that’s exactly what Joe Biden wanted. He wanted us to care more about putting the first black woman on the Supreme Court than about her appalling soft-on-crime record. Rather than be troubled by her unprecedented evasiveness when it came to her judicial philosophy, we were supposed to be awed by the historic nature of her nomination. As a nation, we’ve long passed the point where we have to bow down to the altar of identity politics.
Calling her confirmation a “high point” for our nation is the equivalent of saying her record of giving child pornographers and pedophiles lenient sentences doesn’t matter. We’re just supposed to be happy a black woman is on the court—regardless of everything else about her. I can’t ignore her despicable record just because she’s a black woman, and I can’t pretend that her being on the court will be a good thing despite that record.
Watch Sen. Blunt’s remarks here: