Last month, President Joe Biden announced his nomination of United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, after the announcement of Justice Stephen Breyer's upcoming retirement.
Judge Jackson is a Harvard graduate, a former editor of the Harvard Law Review, and a onetime public defender who served on the United States Sentencing Commission. She's been confirmed on a bipartisan basis by the United States Senate multiple times.
Despite these qualifications, the most famous racist to lose Dancing with the Stars—Fox News host Tucker Carlson—isn't satisfied.
In a screed to his millions of viewers this week, Carlson blasted Biden for not mentioning Judge Jackson's score on the Law School Aptitude Test, or LSAT, which Jackson would've taken in the early 1990s. The LSAT is the standardized test taken to be admitted to law school, not the measure of a complete legal education.
Not that that matters to Carlson, who frequently peddles disinformation and presents innocuous developments in a sinister enough voice to send his millions of viewers into moral panic.
Watch below.
Tucker: It might be time for Joe Biden to let us know Ketanji Brown Jackson’s LSAT score was. Why wouldn’t he tell us that… pic.twitter.com/boPHU5PnMd
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 3, 2022
Mispronouncing the judge's name, Carlson said:
"It might be time for Biden to let us know what Kentaji [sic] Brown Jackson's LSAT score was. ... Why wouldn't he tell us that? That would settle the question conclusively as to whether she's a once-in-a-generation legal talent, the next one at hand. It would seem like Americans in a democracy have a right to know that and much more before giving her a lifetime appointment, but we didn't hear that."
The double standard is glaring. The past six years have seen three other Supreme Court nominees confirmed by the Senate—Justice Amy Coney Barrett (the least experienced Supreme Court Justice in decades), Justice Brett Kavanaugh (credibly accused of sexual assault who berated Senators in his confirmation hearing), and Justice Neil Gorsuch (nominated after Senate Republicans blocked consideration of Obama's Supreme Court nominees for a whole year).
At no point did Carlson demand the LSAT scores of these white nominees.
Social media users called him out for his racist demands.
This is textbook racism. Not even a dog whistle. Show clips of Tucker asking for LSATs of a white candidate. Outside of the ridiculous argument that scores to get INTO law school are the measure of qualification, the presumption that Black pp are dumb is standard white supremacy. https://t.co/KmCC973RMz
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) March 3, 2022
It's bad form at Harvard Law School to even *mention* your LSAT score and Tucker would know that if he wasn't an idiot frozen dinner scion who literally couldn't buy his way into Harvard or standardize test himself out of a paper bag. https://t.co/QgDmyyWtqw
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) March 3, 2022
Judge Brown Jackson graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard, Cum Laude from Harvard Law, & was the editor of the Harvard Law review. She is the real deal. I’ve never heard “Tie Too Tight” ask about lsat scores for other nominees, but typical of those who feel a bit “inadequate.” https://t.co/GeU6qE1isG
— Jaime Harrison, DNC Chair (@harrisonjaime) March 3, 2022
She was Magma Cum Laude At Harvard. You’re a racist. https://t.co/MQ80QEKUNN
— Bakari Sellers (@Bakari_Sellers) March 3, 2022
When Black women tell you that we have to be twice as qualified to get even half as far…believe us. https://t.co/Z7wNSDYq14
— Audra McDonald (@AudraEqualityMc) March 3, 2022
If someone could point me to the segments where @TuckerCarlson touted Kavanaugh and Comey Barrett’s LSAT scores… https://t.co/oxSDYFLFKk pic.twitter.com/fzz3f7Bhpt
— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) March 3, 2022
People who actually know what they're talking about when it comes to law quickly informed Carlson that the LSAT score is not by any means a measure of legal greatness.
How did you do on the LSAT is the kind of question only asked by people who never went to ANY kind of graduate school and don't know anyone who did but what to sound smart. Who asks doctors about thier MCATs. It's also the kind of question racists ask https://t.co/xUMzwzUqNy
— Dr. Jason Johnson (@DrJasonJohnson) March 3, 2022
LOL. There's not one person in the legal field who thinks an LSAT score can "settle the question conclusively as to whether she's a once-in-a-generation legal talent." It's a bunch of puzzles and word games. Nobody cares about it after you get into law school. https://t.co/xRgEFvelKF
— Max Kennerly (@MaxKennerly) March 3, 2022
There are two types of asshole in the world:
People who ask you your LSAT score
People who tell you their LSAT score https://t.co/gkBp6Ct8Vl
— Fiddler (@cFidd) March 3, 2022
As of now, prospects for Judge Jackson's confirmation by the Senate seem good, and she'll likely have a seat on the Supreme Court before the end of the year.Unfortunately, Tucker will still have a seat at Fox News.