Ted Cruz says Biden's plan to pick a black Supreme Court nominee is 'racial discrimination'


Sen. Ted Cruz stepped up his attacks on Joe Biden’s strategy for picking a Supreme court nominee on Sunday, saying it would be illegal for anyone else to specify the race and gender of job applicants.

Biden has made clear he will nominate a black woman to replace Justice Stephen Breyer who announced his retirement lat month.

‘Democrats today believe in racial discrimination,’ Cruz told Fox News Sunday.

‘They’re committed to it as a political proposition. I think it is wrong to stand up and say, “We’re going to discriminate.”

Cruz said that made 94 percent of the population ineligible, including Merrick Garland, nominated by Barack Obama for a Supreme Court seat. 

‘If he happened to nominate a justice who was an African-American woman, great,’ he continued. 

‘But you know what, if Fox News put a posting, we’re looking for a new host for Fox News Sunday and we will only hire an African American woman or a Hispanic man or a Native American woman, that would be illegal.’

'Democrats today believe in racial discrimination,' Ted Cruz told Fox News Sunday as he slammed President Joe Biden's promise to select a black woman for the Supreme Court

‘Democrats today believe in racial discrimination,’ Ted Cruz told Fox News Sunday as he slammed President Joe Biden’s promise to select a black woman for the Supreme Court

Biden made his promise to pick a black woman for the Supreme Court during the 2020 election campaign and has said he will make his announcement before the end of February

Biden made his promise to pick a black woman for the Supreme Court during the 2020 election campaign and has said he will make his announcement before the end of February

Biden has said he will make his announcement before the end of February and is believed to have narrowed his selection to three women.

Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51, has long been seen as the frontrunner. She is a recent appointee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Leondra Kruger, 45, has been a California Supreme Court judge since 2015. She would be the first person in more than 40 years elevated from a state court to the Supreme Court if she were to be confirmed. 

A third name, J. Michelle Childs, 55, emerged in recent weeks – largely down to the backing of House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) a close Biden ally. She has also won the support of South Carolina’s two Republican senators, Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott.  

Leading conservatives – including former Vice President Mike Pence – have expressed concern about Biden’s promise, warning that he could be overlooking the best person for the job.

But supporters say it will help make the court a better representation of America.  

And the White House has previously called out Cruz for hypocrisy over President Donald Trump’s choice of Amy Coney Barrett to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg who died in September 2020.

‘Just over a year ago, the previous president also promised to select a woman for the Supreme Court,’ said Press Secretary Jen Psaki earlier this month.

‘Not only were there no complaints about choosing a nominee from a specific demographic, from the same corners, but there was widespread praise of now Justice Barrett on those grounds with Republican lawmakers widely highlighting that they thought this was positive for women in America.

‘So take Senator Cruz himself, he had no objection to Donald Trump promising he’d nominated a woman in 2020. Repeat: No objection at all.’

Coney Barrett was confirmed in October 2020, hurried through by Republicans with one eye on the looming presidential election. 

Psaki was responding to an episode of Cruz’s own podcast where he said Biden’s policy was offensive to black women.

‘The fact that he’s willing to make a promise at the outset that it must be a black woman – I gotta say, that’s offensive,’ he said.

‘Black women are, what, six percent of the U.S. population? He’s saying to 94% of Americans, ‘I don’t give a damn about you – you are ineligible

‘And he’s also saying – it’s actually an insult to black women.

‘If he came and said, ‘I’m going to put the best jurist on the court’, and he looked at a number of people and he ended up nominating a black woman, he could credibly say, “OK I’m nominating the person who’s most qualified.”‘

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