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Jan 29 • 19 tweets • 8 min read
NEW: The first Black woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court will be a "beneficiary" of affirmative action and she will "probably not get a single Republican vote," U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi, said today.
mississippifreepress.org/20244/wicker-b…
“The irony is that the Supreme Court is at the very time hearing cases about this sort of affirmative racial discrimination while adding someone who is the beneficiary of this sort of quota," Sen. Wicker said of Biden's decision to appoint a Black woman.
mississippifreepress.org/20244/wicker-b…
Wicker did not raise an objection in September 2020 when then-President Trump vowed to nominate a woman to replace the late Justice Ginsburg.

Instead, Wicker enthusiastically supported Barrett and did not describe her as an affirmative action pick.
mississippifreepress.org/20244/wicker-b… CNN headline screenshot: "Trump on Supreme Court nomine
Wicker said he fears the Black woman Biden nominates will be less like the "nice, stately" Justice Breyer, who is a white man, and more like Justice Sotomayor, the first Latina on the court.

"I think they will misinterpret the law,” he said.
mississippifreepress.org/20244/wicker-b…
“For those people who vote Republican and were uncomfortable voting for Trump last time because they had a problem with his demeanor, this is what you get. We’ll have 30 years of a left-wing judge" instead of another Barrett or Kavanaugh, Wicker said.
mississippifreepress.org/20244/wicker-b…
"I guarantee you this, Paul, this new justice will probably not get a single Republican vote, but we will not treat her like the Democrats did Brett Kavanaugh. It was one of the most disgraceful, shameful things...," Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican, said.
mississippifreepress.org/20244/wicker-b…
When Trump nominated Kavanaugh in 2018, the future justice faced allegations of sexual misconduct, with Christine Blasey Ford testifying under oath that he once tried to rape her at a party when he was younger.

All but one Republican voted to confirm him.mississippifreepress.org/20244/wicker-b…
Even aside from Trump’s 2020 vow to appoint a woman, Biden’s pledge to announce a historic appointment is not unprecedented.

As a Republican presidential candidate in 1980, Ronald Reagan promised to appoint the first woman to the court in history.
mississippifreepress.org/20244/wicker-b… a photo of Ronald Reagan and Sandra Day O'Connor
President Biden: The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience, & integrity, & that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court. It’s long overdue, in my view."mississippifreepress.org/20244/wicker-b…
Here's the moment when Sen. Roger Wicker, who represents the Blackest state in the country (Mississippi), said the first Black woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court will have been chosen to fulfill an affirmative action "quota."
Mississippi is a 38% Black state. But we haven't had a Black U.S. senator since 1881.

Mississippi's population:
🧑🏿‍🦱👩🏾‍🦱👨🏿‍🦲🧒🏿👩🏼‍🦲
🧔🏻👱🏻‍♀️👱🏼‍♂️👵🏻🧑🏻

MS's top state officials:
👨🏻‍🦰👨🏻‍🦲🧔🏻👱🏻‍♂️
👴🏻👨🏻‍🌾👱🏻‍♂️👩🏼‍💼

MS's Legislature:
👨🏻👴🏻🧑🏻‍🦲🧔🏻👱🏻‍♂️
👨🏻‍🦰👩🏼‍💼👨🏾‍🦲👨🏿‍💼👩🏿‍🦱

MS US House/Senate:
👨🏻‍🦲👱🏻‍♂️👨🏻👨🏾‍🦲
👨🏻‍🦳👩🏼‍💼
mississippifreepress.org/11705/systemic…
Supreme Court Justices 1789-2022

👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️
👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️
👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️
👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️
👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️
👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️
👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️
👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️
👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️
👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️
👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️👨🏿‍⚖️👨🏿‍⚖️
👩🏻‍⚖️👩🏻‍⚖️👩🏻‍⚖️👩🏻‍⚖️👩🏽‍⚖️(👩🏿‍⚖️?)
According to Sen. Roger Wicker, if a Biden justice is confirmed who looks like this 👩🏿‍⚖️, she will be unique as an affirmative action pick who was chosen because of her gender and skin color.

Unlike 108 of the 115 justices preceding her who were all white men. screenshot of emojis showing the racial makeup of past Supre
You can support our paywall-free, non-profit, non-partisan journalism with a one-time or recurring donation at mfp.ms/donate.

Also: Be sure to follow @MSFreePress.
‘To Rule History With God’: The Christian Dominionist War On Abortion, Part I
mississippifreepress.org/20042/to-rule-…
‘God Selected This Case’: The Christian Dominionist War On Abortion, Part II
mississippifreepress.org/20178/god-sele…
UPDATE: The White House has responded to this story we reported @MSFreePress.

"We hope Senator Wicker will give President Biden nominee the same consideration he gave to then-Judge Barrett."
Paul Gallo, the @SuperTalk radio host who interviewed @SenatorWicker when he made the comments about Biden's decision to nominate a Black woman, says the critical reaction convinced him that "racism, hatred & pugnacious elitism has reached terminal velocity with these zealots."
The story has been updated to include the statement that the White House sent me this morning: mississippifreepress.org/20244/wicker-b…

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More from @ashtonpittman

Ashton Pittman Profile picture
Jan 28
NEW: At the Supreme Court, Mississippi's solicitor general presented a secular case for why Roe v. Wade should be overturned.

But hours later, MS Attorney General Lynn Fitch voiced different ideas.

"God selected this case," she declared. "He was ready."
mississippifreepress.org/20178/god-sele…
If Fitch is right and the U.S. Supreme Court does overturn Roe v. Wade, it will have been Donald Trump who paved the way—boosted by an army of Christian dominionists who believe they are tasked with establishing God's kingdom on earth.
mississippifreepress.org/20178/god-sele…
"Trump comes in and has the support of normal evangelical organizations like Family Research Council, but what he picks is kind of this whole interesting list of pentecostals that I used to call the D-list. He made them the A-list,” says Dr. @AntheaButler.
mississippifreepress.org/20178/god-sele…
Read 34 tweets
Ashton Pittman Profile picture
Jan 27
"...so we'll get (a) lesser Black woman."

Ilya Shapiro is the director for constitutional studies at the Cato Institute and a Federalist Society lecturer.

He is the chairman of the board of advisers of the Mississippi Justice Institute. screenshot of Ilya Shapiro tweet says: "Bear pick for B
He says he apologizes for his tweet.
Correction: He used a lower case b in "Black."
Read 4 tweets
Ashton Pittman Profile picture
Jan 27
This "extreme voter suppression bill" in Arizona sounds a lot like Mississippi's current election system.

Only one day of voting, no early voting, very limited absentee voting options with an absentee mail voting option that requires TWO notaries.
Oh, and we still have a Jim Crow-era voter disenfranchisement law on the books even though its authors said its purpose was "to eliminate the n–ger from politics."

Today, it bans tens of thousands of residents from voting—most of them Black.
mississippifreepress.org/11705/systemic…
If you're wondering how our election system works in practice:

Confusion, Two-Hour Waits After 2,000 Black, Hispanic Voters Relocated In Ridgeland
mississippifreepress.org/6704/confusion…
Read 5 tweets
Ashton Pittman Profile picture
Jan 27
The Mayor of Ridgeland, Mississippi, is demanding a purge of LGBTQ library books in exchange for $110,000 in funding for the local library.

According to the library director, the mayor says the books go against his Christian beliefs. From @nickjudin: mississippifreepress.org/20068/ridgelan…
The mayor of Ridgeland told @nickjudin that he is withholding money because "we found a large number of citizens who have complained about displays of sexual, whatever you want to call it, content."

Still in the library uncontested: "50 Shades of Grey."
mississippifreepress.org/20068/ridgelan…
And remember, we only know about the Ridgeland mayor's efforts to purge the local library of LGBTQ books because of @nickjudin's dogged reporting in @MSFreePress.

This is why it's so important to follow local journalists and support local media.
mississippifreepress.org/20068/ridgelan…
Read 4 tweets
Ashton Pittman Profile picture
Jan 26
If you don't think that there are any Black women among the most qualified potential Supreme Court picks, it's probably because you're a racist.
Correction: *it's because you're a racist
In addition, you're probably also a misogynist.
Read 4 tweets
Ashton Pittman Profile picture
Jan 26
NEW: Christian Dominionists who envision a theocratic takeover of the U.S. government have long sought to remake the nation in their image.

Here's in-depth look at how they set the stage for the end of Roe v. Wade—with a focus on the federal courts. 1/
mississippifreepress.org/20042/to-rule-…
"We have a plan to make Roe irrelevant or completely reverse it," Kevin Theriot, an Alliance Defending Freedom leader, said in 2018.

They'd drafted a 15-week abortion ban. The goal: Get a state to pass it and defend it all the way to the Supreme Court. 2/mississippifreepress.org/20042/to-rule-…
ADF is a Christian legal organization with Christian dominionist leanings that works through state legislatures and federal courts to enshrine its religious ideas into law.

Its efforts proved vital to getting the Supreme Court to reconsider Roe v. Wade. 3/mississippifreepress.org/20042/to-rule-…
Read 17 tweets

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