Trump released an all-white list of candidates for Scalia's Supreme Court seat - and no one seemed

[AZProgressive]

to care

On May 18, 2016, Donald Trump surprised the political world by releasing the names of 11 potential Supreme Court nominees he said he’d consider -- if elected president -- to fill the seat vacated by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in early 2015.

“All are white, and eight of the 11 are men,” the New York Times mentioned in passing. But there’s no indication that anyone was especially outraged by the all-Caucasian roster, and certainly not Republicans. Perhaps because the larger story was, after all, that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had stolen the pick from President Barack Obama.

Here’s the main context given by the Times to the release of the names, which were widely known to have come from the conservative Federalist Society and Heritage Foundation.

“The unusual move comes as Mr. Trump is looking to unify the Republican Party behind him and win over critics who remain skeptical about his candidacy. While some Republicans who oppose Mr. Trump have considered supporting Hillary Clinton or sitting out the election, he has regularly reminded them that the future of the Supreme Court is at stake.”

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-released-an-all-white-list-of-candidates-for-scalias-supreme-court-seat-and-no-one-seemed-to-care/

[JustAnotherGen]

1. Yep - no outrage about that

Hmmm . . . What's the difference?

[Catherine Vincent]

2. True

I guess he figured 1 black Supreme Court member was enough.

[gratuitous]

3. I can also see how flabbergasted the Republicans are about the Biden administration's list

No fewer than 13 women of color. I'm guessing Republicans thought the maximum number of candidates would be three, maybe four. The oppo research stop of the Mighty Republican Wurlitzer probably blew when that hit the news.

[lame54]

4. M. Garland was a safe pick...

To appease repugs

They are in-appeasable

Joe's pick will ignore them

[Caliman73]

5. I am sure that some people noticed...

The people who noticed however, are likely not people whose opinions carry a vast amount of importance in society.

Thing is, that to many people, "White" is just the default. White has been proposed as the "absence" of racial identity. White people are treated as the idealistic "individual" free from the constraints of identification with "group traits" like people of color.

You don't hear people talking about "the White Community" like you hear when discussion the Black Community. One White person's actions are not indicative of traits shared by all other White people. In vernacular or Meme language it is... "Mexicans be like..." and while I am sure there are Memes of, "White people be like..." they do not carry the power that similar statements about Black, Latino/Hispanic, or "Asian" groups do.

When policies are created to address historical disparities for Black people, it is called "Identity politics" but policies which have historically favored White people are never called "Identity politics" just public policy.

This is likely why Trump's slate of White Supreme Court candidates was not a bigger problem.

[rogue emissary]

6. Essentially demonstrating that POC weren't even considered.

[Solly Mack]

7. Because white is the standard. It's how it is supposed to be. (to their thinking)

Truth is that a lot of people don't even think anything about it when only white people are chosen - it's just the way it is in their minds, and they never think to question it.

It's normal. It's not unusual. It just is.

They don't see the problem because to their thinking, there is no problem.