Sen. Ted Cruz(R-Texas) called PresidentJoe Biden‘s promise to nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court “offensive,” on his podcast Verdict with Ted Cruz.
“The fact that he’s willing to make a promise at the outset, that it must be a black woman, I gotta say that’s offensive. You know, you know black women are what, 6 percent of the U.S. population? He’s saying to 94 percent of Americans, ‘I don’t give a damn about you, you are ineligible,'” Cruz said.
Cruz also noted that he felt the commitment was offensive to black women.
“And he’s also saying — it’s actually an insult to black women,” Cruz added. “If he came and said, ‘I’m gonna put the best jurist on the court’ and he looked at a number of people and he ended up nominating a black woman, he could credibly say, ‘Ok, I’m nominating the person who’s most qualified.’ He’s not even pretending to say that. He’s saying, ‘If you’re a white guy, tough luck. If you’re a white woman, tough luck. You don’t qualify.'”
Cruz’s criticism adds to other Republicans’ recent concerns over Biden’s nominee. Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker (R) said the confirmation of someone who benefited from affirmative action may be a conflict for the rest of the justices when ruling on affirmative action cases.
“The majority of the court may be saying writ large that it’s unconstitutional. We’ll see how that irony works out,” Wicker said on a radio show on Friday.
Both Cruz and Wicker were supportive of former President Donald Trump‘s commitment to nominating a woman to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, saying Justice Amy Coney Barrett would be an excellent role model and inspiration for young girls.
