Good job, Joe. By shamelessly pandering to minorities during the presidential campaign, you prematurely diminished the accomplishments of the next Supreme Court justice. Insulted her, really.

When candidate Biden promised to appoint a black woman to the high court during a debate in 2020, he guaranteed that his nominee would be seen as someone elevated to the high court due to chromosomes and skin color rather than accomplishments and resume.

After news leaked Wednesday that 83-year-old liberal Justice Stephen Breyer would retire at the end of this term, Biden’s mouthpiece, Jen Psaki, confirmed that the president would replace Breyer with a black woman. 

In other words, no whites, Hispanics, Asians, Pacific Islanders, trans people or men would even be considered.

Far-left U.S. Senator Patty Murray of Washington immediately urged Biden to make the appointment based not on qualifications but on skin color and reproductive organs:

“In the wake of Justice Breyer’s retirement, I want to voice my support for President Biden in his pledge to nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court. The Court should reflect the diversity of our country, and it is unacceptable that we have never in our nation’s history had a Black woman sit on the Supreme Court of the United States—I want to change that.”

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it illegal for the government to discriminate on the basis of race or gender in hiring? 

Imagine the cataclysmic outrage if an American president were to announce that the next justice would be a white person. Or a Muslim. Or a Jew. Or, worse yet, a MAN!

Let’s back up. The biggest surprise about yesterday’s Breyer news was the timing and manner of the announcement.

It’s customary for a justice to announce his or her own retirement. Not this time. A leak, rumored to have originated at the White House, hit the news at mid-day, changing the main topic of Wednesday’s conversation from Biden’s serial disasters - inflation, Covid, Ukraine - to the Supreme Court.

As of Thursday morning Breyer still had not announced his retirement. Odd. 

Remember, leftists were furious that octogenarian Ruth Bader Ginsburg refused to retire despite her poor health. She died when she was 87 and still on the bench. President Donald Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett to replace her.

Fearing a repeat, the left has been cruelly hounding Breyer to retire ever since Biden was elected, lest the liberal justice also drop dead when a Republican is back in the White House. Or after the GOP has gained the majority in both houses of Congress.

Yesterday’s leak, wherever it originated, could be seen as a bullying tactic.

Look, Biden’s not the first president to play identity politics with SCOTUS appointments. Ronald Reagan pledged to appoint the first woman to the Court during the 1980 presidential campaign and he made good on his promise with Sandra Day O’Connor. 

There are qualified black women on the federal bench with impressive credentials. But the fact that Biden announced in advance that his pick would be an African-American female means that, to many, his nominee will always be regarded as an affirmative action hire.

Ironic, given that the court is considering major affirmative action cases in higher education this term and is expected to rule the practice unconstitutional.