Now that the President has nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson, I’d like to re-post my column on why Biden’s pledge to send a Black woman to the Supreme Court was so significant - and why conservatives are so furious even though it won’t change the balance of power on the Court:
https://twitter.com/gdnusopinion/status/1488836354708365313
This captures precisely why conservatives feel threatened by this nomination: They understand it symbolizes the recognition that having white men dominate the powerful institutions of American life is a problem that needs to be rectified.
https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1497289064604700683
Conservatives fear the acknowledgment that the country’s institutions should reflect the composition of the people; they understand that representation matters, that a Black woman ascending to a position like this is also an acknowledgment of past injustice.
Conservatives saw Biden’s pledge as an indication of how powerful the forces of liberalism, “wokeism,” and multiculturalism – those radically “Un-American” ideas that are threatening “real” (read: white Christian patriarchal) America – have already become.
The fact that a reactionary majority will dominate the Supreme Court for a generation doesn’t do much to alleviate these fears. Conservatives realize that their vision for American society has come under pressure, and not just politically, but even more so culturally.
It is not just political power the Right seeks, but cultural domination and affirmation. And in the cultural sphere, the shift in power away from white conservatives has been more pronounced, leading to the recurring rightwing moral panics of recent years.
It has traditionally been the prerogative of a white male elite to determine what is and what is not acceptable in U.S. society. That prerogative has come under fire, and it’s not something the judiciary can fully restore.
Conservatives understood Biden’s promise as evidence that the dreaded forces responsible for the general assault on white male rule keep ascending within America’s institutions. Whether or not it has any immediate effect on the Court’s decisions, that’s a threat.
Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination represents an affirmation of multiracial pluralism. It’s an acknowledgment that the traditional dominance of white men was never the result of meritocratic structures, but of a discriminatory system, and that it’s time to dismantle that system.
A Black woman on the Court will help redefine what the American political, social, and cultural elite looks like – reshape ideas in the collective imaginary of the nation of who gets to be at the top. As multiracial, pluralistic democracy is under assault, that matters a lot.
https://twitter.com/gdnusopinion/status/1488836354708365313
Addendum: If you need more evidence for what is behind the Right’s furious opposition to the first Black woman nominated for the SC, here’s Tucker with some unadulterated white supremacist rage. Remember: This differs from the broader white male elite grievance in tone only.
https://twitter.com/NikkiMcR/status/1497377830770028549
This actually made me laugh: Apart from the white grievance whining, this weak sauce is all they have in terms of “substantive” opposition to Ketanji Brown Jackson. Sure looks like Biden made an excellent choice.
https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1497292903441485824
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