I can still remember the outrage when the Supreme Court effectively ended race-based admissions preferences for colleges. To hear the left tell it, it meant that no school would ever admit a black student ever again. It amazes me that more black liberals weren’t offended by this narrative, but affirmative action is a sacred cow for the left, just like abortion.
And make no mistake about it: Joe Biden’s presidency has been rife with affirmative action picks. During his presidential campaign, he promised to pick a woman as his running mate and nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court.
He followed through, and we can see that the results haven’t exactly been great. But Kamala Harris and Ketanji Brown Jackson are only the tip of the iceberg of his affirmative action selection process at work.
His administration is full of people who were chosen not because of their qualifications but because of the color of their skin, their biological sex, or their sexual orientation. And anytime he was able to nominate the first fill-in-the-blank minority for some random position, the White House would make sure the media knew about it.
Yet sadly, one can’t help but wonder if Biden’s desire to flood his administration and the judiciary with various minorities because they’re minorities hasn’t resulted in the haphazard selection of candidates and nominees who fail to demonstrate basic competence in their field.
Earlier this year, Biden's pick for a U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Washington, couldn’t answer basic questions about the Constitution Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) posed. When Kennedy asked, “Tell me what Article V of the Constitution does,” Judge Charnelle Bjelkengren, had no clue.
"Article V is not coming to mind at the moment,” she admitted.
When Kennedy moved on to Article II, Bjelkengren also confessed her ignorance.
Why was she nominated? Clearly, she’s no constitutional scholar, but if confirmed, she would be the first black woman to serve on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington and the first black woman to serve on a United States District Court in the state of Washington.
And then there’s Kato Crews, the first black U.S. magistrate judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, who Biden nominated for a district court seat in the state. Back in March, Kennedy stumped him by asking about what a Brady motion is, and Crews had no idea.
Last month, Sara E. Hill was nominated to be the district judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma. This week, Kennedy asked her if she could explain the difference between a "stay" order and an “injunction,” but she couldn’t do it.
"A stay order would prohibit, um, sorry,” she began. "An injunction would restrain the parties from taking action. A stay order … I'm not sure I can, actually can, can give you that."
Why exactly did Biden nominate Hill? Again, it clearly wasn’t a case of her demonstrating even basic competence for the position. The reason why Biden nominated her and why Democrats have been championing her nomination is that if the Senate were to confirm her, she’d be the first Native American to serve as a federal judge in Oklahoma.
Diversity for diversity’s sake doesn’t help anybody. And Biden continues to make a case against affirmative action better than any conservative could.
