Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson -- 'Firsts' Only Matter If They're Liberal

By Larry Elder

After the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first black female justice to the U.S. Supreme Court, liberal hypocrites parroted the same talking points.

MSNBC host Yasmin Vossoughian said: "Minority children across the board watching Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson gain this seat on the Supreme Court (were) inspired by what she's been able to achieve."

MSNBC host Tiffany Cross said: "This week we bore witness to history as we watched Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson become Justice Designate Ketanji Brown Jackson. It has taken over 230 years to get to this point, and for the first time in U.S. history, white men are not the dominant representation of what so many have called 'blind justice' on the Supreme Court."

PBS and NBC journalist Yamiche Alcindor said: "Well, this was a profound moment in history. And Judge Jackson, soon to be Justice Jackson, really leaned into the history that she is making. ... She talked about being an inheritor of America's promise of justice for all."

And the race-incendiary Rev. Al Sharpton took a shot at the obviously "racist" Republicans for not joining in the celebration of the historic event: "As great as it is today, for black women, for women, and for black people, we all couldn't celebrate that together. (Republicans) didn't even have enough humanity to say this is historic. And I think that that is very telling."
No, what's telling is the phoniness of the celebration.

Where was this desire for the "first black female" justice to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia -- arguably the second-highest court in the country -- when then-Sen. Joe Biden and the Democrats, from 2003-2005, used the filibuster to attempt to block the nomination of black conservative female Judge Janice Rogers Brown? Worse, when she finally received confirmation, Biden publicly threatened to filibuster her again should President George W. Bush nominate her to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Rogers Brown, the daughter and granddaughter of sharecroppers, put herself through UCLA law school as a single mom. Appointed to the California Supreme Court by a Republican governor, she received 76% of the vote in this liberal state when she ran to keep her seat. Her winning percentage was higher than any other justice on the ballot that year. But who cares? After all, she's a conservative.

When I ran to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom, The New York Times wrote a negative article about my candidacy and never mentioned my race or that I would have become the first black governor of California. Fine with me. Isn't it past time to consider one's suitability for office without regard to race, ethnicity or gender? But on the same day, the same newspaper in another article gushed over the "first" female governor of New York, a Democrat.

After the election of Barack Obama, the first black president, isn't virtually every other black "first" anticlimactic by comparison? Blacks have been, and are, CEOs of Fortune 500 companies; presidents of the American Bar Association and the American Medical Association; governor of Virginia, once the capitol state of the confederacy; president of an Ivy League university; and listed on the Forbes 400 Richest Americans. Blacks are 13% of the U.S. House of Representatives, mirroring the percentage of the black population in America.

As to the black females being "inspired" by Justice Brown Jackson, black females have long had  higher self-esteem and more confidence than any other group of females, including whites. While on average, black women are heavier than white women, black females report greater satisfaction with their bodies than do white women.

Finally, it was the first black president who said: "My identity might begin with the fact of my race, but it didn't, couldn't end there. At least that's what I would choose to believe."

[Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk show host. His latest book, "The New Trump Standard," is available in paperback from Amazon.com and for Nook, Kindle, iBooks and Google Play. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an "Elderado," visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on Twitter @LarryElder. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.]
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