The Hill reports this morning that “Black lawmakers have been up in arms over a number of Obama’s picks for the federal bench, particularly in southern states, where they contend the process don’t [sic] reflect the ethnic diversity of the regions they would serve.”
Apparently the Congressional Black Caucus believes that Democrats are an ethnic group because, The Hill notes without irony, “the lawmakers say Obama’s slate of six nominees lacks the diversity of a state where almost a third of the population is black. (Only one of the picks is African-American, and she is reportedly a Republican).” Lest I be thought unduly sarcastic, however, let me hasten to add that the CBC may be right; an anthropologist could make a good argument that Democrats are a distinctive ethnic group. They speak a different language from the rest of us, regarding profligate public spending as an investment, and practice quaint tribal customs, such as promoting discrimination based on race as the best path to racial equality.
The CBC objects, of course, to what it calls Republican “obstructionism,” by which it means that Senators from states with judicial vacancies have a say in the selection of judges. According to Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), a member of the CBC’s judicial nominations working group, “the president ought to be able to appoint anyone he wants.”
Someone should remind Rep. Cleaver and the CBC of that no doubt principled observation every time they object, as they surely will, to the judicial nominations of the next Republican president.
