well, gloria, i think you re right. listen, you said it s insulting to those women. i think it s insulting to women in general, black americans, all americans. it s insulting, i think. well, and it s insulting to the process. it s insulting to the court. it s insulting to the president. i mean, go down the list. ellie, we re already seeing jabs from republicans over biden s commitment to picking the first black woman to the supreme court. nikki haley tweeting this, it would be nice if prez biden picked a supreme court nominee who was best qualified without a race/gender litmus test. that s what i did when i picked senator tim scott oh, my god, her black friend. i m just seeing that. some of my best senators are black. that s what they re saying, don. let s pretend for a moment this is purely an affirmative action
i don t, and juanita tolliver. they both are msnbc political analysts. susan, let s start with justice breyer s retirement announcement. president biden has vowed to choose a black woman, because democrats hold the tiebreaking vote in the senate a confirmation seems assured. however, that handle called some conservative calling this an affirmative action pick, and minority leader mcconnell has warned against a radical nominee, quote. i don t think they ll be able to make it into a battle. joe biden ran as someone who said he was going to put a black woman on the supreme court. so president biden, given the opportunity, is going to nominate one, that is very acceptable and that s what he
what that was saying there, don. so, you know, look. let s pretend for a moment that this is purely an affirmative action pick, and he is only picking someone on the basis of there being a black woman. they had literally found probably the five most-qualified human beings in the united states to be federal judges. ketanji brown jackson went to harvard twice. has been a federal judge for eight years. um, and a federal public defender. leondra kruger my former colleague at the justice department went to harvard and yale. has argued before the supreme court 12 times. if you don t want to make this about fancy ivy-league degrees, then michelle childs from south carolina went to the university of south carolina and has been a federal judge. so, this isn t a question of the person being qualified or not qualified. it s merely the use of the word black. no one who is grumbling today probably complained about president reagan and thank you, don, for playing that clip. far more than the p
both their judicial records and their personal stories. why is the lived experience so important? well, the lived experience and the judicial experience. you know, i am sick and tired of people saying this is an affirmative action pick. when trump said he was going to pick a woman, nobody said that, and president biden should just do it. it s not about being qualified. black women have been qualified, and this is about affirmative inaction of presidents to not put a black woman on the court, and judicial philosophy should be considered. the question is the person you want is a black woman with a judicial philosophy proven in their decisions that they are serious about the 14th amendment
have been underestimated. i have been looked down upon. i have been called a diversity fire and affirmative action pick. i know what it s like to have to read more and study harder and think harder and do more work just to be seen half as competent as a white man, as a comparative white man. so i am absolutely confident that every single black woman on this list is going to be qualified. you bring up such a good point in some of the coverage that i have been seeing, some of the pieces i have been seeing and the commentary from a lot of politicians. there s always this follow-up to any nominees dangled as if to say, but she is so incredibly qualified. she has nothing in her background to disqualify her from this nomination. you think back to the most recent nomination of supreme court justices now who have been confirm today the supreme court. justice kavanaugh coming to mind, for instance. why it is that qualification even needs to happen. and i can t help but think it s