Injustice Abounds in Selection of Supreme Court Justice

It's trite but true: The path to hell is paved with good intentions. Last week, Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement from the U.S. Supreme Court and with it offered President Joe Biden the opportunity to nominate (and likely easily get confirmed) his replacement.

The president has pledged to select the next justice of the Supreme Court first and foremost on the candidate's race and sex. Particularly, the candidate must be a woman and must be Black.

He made a similar promise with regards to his VP pick while campaigning for president, and while that statement helped gain the endorsement of Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., which likely helped him secure the presidency, when it comes to the Supreme Court — was this statement necessary?

Knowing that there will be few hurdles to getting his nominee confirmed, the president could have just as easily nominated a female person of color without taking a virtue signaled victory lap.

The leading candidates for a nominee within the confines he's set could be Justice Leondra Kruger of the California Supreme Court, U.S. Circuit Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, U.S. District Judge Michelle Childs, Circuit Judge Eunice Lee — all of whom would have been worthy candidates without the justified belief that they were only being chosen because of the color of their skin.

A significant shame is that this short list is not exhaustive. There are many women of color who are more than qualified to sit on the Supreme Court, but this isn't really about whichever justice will be picked, rather it's about President Biden and the left's desire to continue to make everything woke.

Sadly, the president's approach will cause true damage as it opens the door for the court to officially become a vehicle of identity politics and political persuasion. Justices are lifetime appointments, and an individual chosen with the public perception that they were a trophy pick will cast doubt on future rulings for literally a lifetime to come.

Furthermore, the president has set his criteria for selection based on factors that are illegal for businesses and institutes of public education to utilize.

When a business attempts to hire individuals based on their race and gender, to fill a quota rather than to perform functional duties, it's both illegal and ignorant, as it prevents a possibly more qualified candidate from consideration merely because of melanin content and reproductive organs.

The consequence of these criteria is that it offers up the possibility that the right person for the job may not be who gets the job. 

We needn't look further than the current vice president, who as a candidate for the Oval Office amassed less than 1% of the eligible vote, yet, because she was part of a shortlist based on factors arguably not relating to her qualifications for the job, 99% of the country is left to question whether she has the needed experience and track record for the role of vice president.

Discrimination is real and has been an awful part of our nation's history and, sadly, still part of our society today. For too long, women and persons of color have not had the opportunities they should have because of these factors and as such, we have lost out on the best of the best as a result.

That MUST stop.

But when the president asserts that in his attempt to overcome discrimination, he is making his picks based on specific unrelated factors and not the "right person for the job," he sets the cause back even further, by creating a more discriminatory situation. It's important to note that there has never been anyone of Asian descent on the court or Native American descent, either.

Should they not be afforded the same opportunity which they have now been excluded from because of their heritage?

The Horseshoe Effect asserts that the further you try to push along a linear political continuum, the further back you end up returning to it. In attempting to ensure diversity of thought, experience and worldview by only selecting someone based on the immutable characteristics of their sex and race, you are discriminating against OTHER people based on the immutable characteristics of their sex and race.

And while it is illegal in every other facet of American life to discriminate against your fellow citizens based on factors over which they have no control, it's not illegal for the president to do so.

But it is wrong.

Seth Denson is a business & market analyst, author and entrepreneur. He co-founded one of the nation's most successful consulting firms and author of "The Cure: A Blueprint for Solving America's Healthcare Crisis." Read Seth Denson's Reports —​ More Here.