Discrimination for Me but Not for Thee

After the announcement of the retirement of Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer, President Biden immediately made his own announcement about Breyer’s successor: White men need not apply. He didn’t actually say that, of course, but he might as well have since he announced, not that he would nominate the most qualified person to fill the vacancy on the Court, but that he would only nominate a black woman.

Republicans, as expected, were not happy. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) called the decision “offensive,” and an “insult” to black women. Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) remarked that Biden’s nominee will be a “beneficiary” of affirmative action.

But some Democrats weren’t too excited either. Former House member Tulsi Gabbard criticized the president for his decision, and labeled such a move as harmful “identity politics.” Said Gabbard: “Biden chose Harris as his VP because of the color of her skin and sex—not qualification. She’s been a disaster, Now he promises to choose Supreme Court nominee on the same criteria. Identity politics is destroying our country.”

Biden’s blatant act of discrimination was actually the fulfillment of his campaign promise to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court that he made during a Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina at the urging of South Carolina representative James Clyburn (D-SC), the majority whip in the House. Reportedly, Clyburn would not endorse Biden for president until he made that commitment.

It is only natural to ask, Where does this all end? Like when a reporter asked White House press secretary Jen Psaki if President Biden will vow to nominate “an Asian American or LGBTQ justice to the Supreme Court if any additional vacancies arise.”

There is so much hypocrisy here, and not just from Democrats.

Both Presidents Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump pledged to nominate a woman to the Supreme Court, “and there was no such complaint from the voices on the right who are speaking out now,” Jen Psaki rightly pointed out.

And how can we forget that it was Joe Biden himself who blocked the first black woman from the Supreme Court. Back in 2003, after President George W. Bush nominated Judge Janice Rogers Brown—a black woman—to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (the court that has produced more Supreme Court justices than any other federal court), then-senator Biden vehemently opposed her nomination, as he did in 2005 when she was on Bush’s shortlist to replace retiring justice Sandra Day O’Conner. Why? Because Brown was a conservative.

The hypocrisy of the left on discrimination is appalling.

A black NFL coach gets fired and says it is a result of racism. Yet, about 70 percent of NFL players are black—even though blacks make up about 15 percent of the population. And you would have to look long and hard to find a white running back or wide receiver.

When President Trump’s press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was refused service at a Virginia restaurant because of the political beliefs of her and her boss, Democrats generally cheered the actions of the restaurant’s owner—even though they involved discrimination and refusal of service.

Republicans are correct that the government should not discriminate in hiring. But when it comes to the private sector, they generally support all federal anti-discrimination laws, just like Democrats—just so long as such laws don’t outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity

The libertarian position on discrimination is quite simple:

Since discrimination—against anyone, on any basis, and for any reason—is not aggression, force, coercion, threat, or violence, then, as far as the law is concerned, the government should not proscribe it, seek to prevent it, or punish those who practice it.

Thus, Morgan Stanley, a multinational investment bank and financial services company that has been criticized by conservatives for having an internship program that is only available for some minorities and openly gay students, should be perfectly free to do so. But likewise, internship programs that exclude minorities and openly gay students should be perfectly acceptable as well. In a free society, it couldn’t be any other way.