Biden’s Record Of Opposing Minority And Female Judges

Biden And Democrats Repeatedly Tried To Block Minority And Female Judges From The Federal Bench

BIDEN REPEATEDLY FOUGHT AGAINST WELL-QUALIFIED MINORITY AND FEMALE JUDGES

• With the recent announcement of Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement from the Supreme Court, Biden has nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to fill the seat.
• But far from being a champion of female and minority judges, when Biden had the chance to support Black, Hispanic, and female nominees in the Senate, he repeatedly blocked highly-qualified candidates who were put forward by Republican presidents.

• In 1977, Biden was the only Judiciary Committee member to vote against two historic Black Justice Department nominees because of his “crusade against busing.”
• In 1991, Biden, along with other Senate Democrats, voted against the confirmation of Clarence Thomas – the second Black man ever nominated – to the Supreme Court.
  • As Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, Biden led the hearings that devolved into a “high tech lynching” of Thomas even though Biden privately said the allegations against Thomas were false.
• In 2001, Biden and the Democrats filibustered the nomination of Miguel Estrada for the D.C. Circuit for two years.
  • Estrada would have been the first Latino appointed to that bench but withdrew his nomination after being blocked by Democrats for two years.
  • A leaked memo showed that Democrats disgustingly blocked Estrada at the request of liberal interest groups simply because of the color of his skin.
  • Democrats’ memo said Estrada was “especially dangerous” because “he is Latino, and the White House seems to be grooming him for a Supreme Court appointment.”
  • Estrada – a Honduran immigrant who came to the U.S. when he was 17 – was exceptionally well-qualified, graduating from Columbia and Harvard, clerking for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, and serving as a federal prosecutor and Assistant Attorney General.
• In 2003, Biden fought for two years to block the appointment of Janice Rogers Brown, only the second Black woman to serve on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
  • Biden used the filibuster to block her nomination in 2003 and in 2005, and voted against her final confirmation.
  • Brown was on President Bush’s shortlist to replace Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, yet Biden pledged to obstruct her nomination if Bush chose her as first Black female on the Supreme Court, warning that Brown would face “a very, very, very difficult fight and she probably would be filibustered.”
  • Brown – the daughter of Alabama sharecroppers – earned law degrees from both UCLA and the University of Virginia and served as a California Supreme Court Judge for a decade.
• Priscilla Owen’s nomination was held up for four years by Senate Democrats, including Biden.
  • The senate voted 56-43 along party lines, with Biden voting against
  • Owen was a Justice on the Texas Supreme Court for a decade and received bipartisan praise and a well-qualified rating from the ABA.

• In 2006, Biden and 29 other Democrats voted no on Jerome A. Holmes’ nomination to be the first Black judge on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.
  • Holmes – a graduate of Georgetown and Harvard –had a distinguished record including serving as a federal prosecutor, where he helped put Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh behind bars.

BY DEMOCRATS’ OWN STANDARD, RACE SHOULD NOT BE A FACTOR IN JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS

• The Biden White House has already signaled they will try and make the nomination about race, preparing activists to cynically create a false "affirmative action" narrative for partisan gain.
  • Democrats will hypocritically ignore their past statements saying a judicial nominee’s race, gender and background has nothing to do with their qualifications.

• In 1986, then-Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) said, “Judicial confirmation is not about pro-life or pro-choice, conservative or liberal, it is not about Democrat or Republican, it is about intellectual and professional competence to serve as a member of the third co-equal branch of the government"
• Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that Janice Rogers Brown wasn’t qualified “based off of her record. Not on her race, or her gender or her background.”
• Dick Durbin (D-IL), said Miguel Estrada’s ethnicity has nothing to do with his qualifications for the court and that “Miguel Estrada does not meet [the] standard.”
• Dick Durbin (D-IL), when discussing Priscilla Owen’s nomination, said opposing her nomination had nothing to do with her “gender,” rather it had to do with “the heart of the issue.”
  • Durbin then said it is “plain wrong” that you can’t oppose a nominee unless you disagree with their background.