Obama Expedites his Legacy of Diversity

The Huffington Post recently released a political article titled Obama Pushing to Diversify Federal Judiciary Amid GOP Delays, which was followed up by a left-leaning commentary by Kevin Drum just yesterday, March 3, called Obama Plans to Pick Up the Pace on Judges. Drum begins by admitting that while Republicans are largely to blame for the slow pace of the judicial confirmations during the past four years, Obama had indeed made very little effort to nominate judges during his first term.  However, he quickly goes on to point out that now as his reelection was strongly backed by women, ethnic minorities and gays, Obama is establishing a much higher priority on this process, as well as setting a new precedent, by focusing on nominating judges from a diverse range of backgrounds, genders, ethnicities and sexual orientations. I particularly enjoyed Drum’s comment about “how, you know, [Republicans] don't object to diverse judges, but they are concerned about whether this is just affirmative action in disguise, so maybe we're not getting the high quality of judges that we should be, blah blah blah.” Drum’s take on their comments was humorous, yet it accurately conveys how I felt about them too. They are basically implying, and admitting, that they do in fact oppose judges from diverse backgrounds because they actually believe that their quality is inferior to their own. That comment alone by the Republicans made me very grateful for the diversity Obama is seeking to better reflect our melting-pot population, because it makes it very apparent that we desperately need it. Drum’s commentary is obviously intended for a liberal audience, and I completely agree with the main point he wants the reader to take away, which argues that “[t]here are plenty of good judges with other backgrounds.”