Fox News personality Geraldo Rivera claimed that President Joe Biden's announcement that he would nominate a Black woman to replace Associate Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court would be "affirmative action."
During his campaign, then-candidate Biden promised he would nominate a Black woman in the event of a Supreme Court vacancy, a decision that would reshape the court's liberal wing and highlight the lack of diversified voices on the nation's higher federal courts.
That promise is now front and center with Breyer's impending retirement, thanks to a short list of contenders that includes Ketanji Brown Jackson, who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and Leondra R. Kruger, who sits on the California Supreme Court.
Pointing to Beyer's potential successors, Rivera drew attention to the recent announcement that the Supreme Court would revisit affirmative action in college admissions, saying:
"It’s interesting that it’s definitely affirmative action, right? As [the Supreme Court is] considering the affirmative action case against Harvard and University of North Carolina."
That said, Rivera said he supports the idea of appointing a Black woman to the court, saying:
"So it is ironic. It is ironic, but I’m all for–there is no Black woman on the court. Why not do it?"
Ultimately, Rivera's remarks about affirmative action did expose him to criticism.
Rivera's comments come a day after fellow Fox News personality Tomi Lahren suggested that Biden should not nominate a Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court, saying Biden is simply trying to "placate" what she referred to as "the radical element" within the Democratic Party.
Lahren reiterated the Fox News consensus that Biden's promise to nominate a Black woman to the court is an indication of what conservative critics have claimed is a liberal obsession with identity politics.
She went on to suggest that nominating a Black woman to the Supreme Court would backfire, given low opinions of Vice President Kamala Harris's performance.
"We saw how well that worked out with Kamala Harris but here's to hoping that he has a better choice in mind for this position," she said at the time, later taking to Twitter to accuse Biden of basing his decision "solely on race, gender and identity politics."
Interestingly, Rivera suggested that Harris would be worthy of a Supreme Court nomination, saying that she “would’ve been a great idea.”
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