LogFAQs > #962132475

darkknight109 posted...

For a position like SCOTUS justice, there is no unarguably "best candidate" - just a bunch of very highly qualified candidates. If you can't find a candidate that meets the criteria of "black" (the second or third largest racial group in the US, depending on whether or not you're separating Hispanics from non-Hispanic whites) and "woman" (roughly half the population), it's not because there aren't any who are qualified, it's because you're not looking.

That's a facetious and generally weak argument from any number of perspectives. It posits the false idea that everybody is equally qualified -- which certainly isn't the case when you're picking somebody with relatively little experience because they check off certain boxes (be it intangibles like beliefs or something like demographics) over a far more experienced candidate simply because the more experienced candidate is the "wrong" race, gender, orientation, or creed. While there's always going to be gray room when it comes to the "best" candidate (and that can vary depending on expectations), there's obviously going to be some huge variation in terms of quality.

darkknight109 posted...

If you can't find a candidate that meets the criteria of "black" (the second or third largest racial group in the US, depending on whether or not you're separating Hispanics from non-Hispanic whites) and "woman" (roughly half the population), it's not because there aren't any who are qualified, it's because you're not looking.

I feel like this glaringly misleading statement deserves additional criticism. Women make up about 50% of the general population, but only 33% of judges. Meanwhile blacks account for 12-13% of the general population, they only make up THREE-PERCENT of judges. This is across ALL judicial positions, not just the actually relevant ones, where the numbers are going to be smaller. You're literally eliminating NINETY-NINE-PERCENT of all judges on the basis of those two criteria (which, again, are criteria that have NOTHING to do with performance). Now I want you to sit there, think about what you just fucking tried to claim, and justify within your own mind why you're not completely wrong on every conceivable level before trying to convince me of that.