Almost as soon as President Joe Biden reaffirmed his intention to follow-through with his campaign promise to put the first Black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, the backlash started. Conservative pundits accused Biden of engaging in racial politics.
Ilya Shapiro, the incoming director of Georgetown University's Law Center for the Constitution was placed on leave after tweeting that a Black candidate would be “lesser.”
Angela Onwuachi-Willig, dean and professor of law at Boston University.“It was an excellent example of the kind of anti-Black racism and sexism that Black women face,” said Dr. Angela Onwuachi-Willig, dean and professor of law at Boston University. “It was another example of why these women are so exceptional. Every single one of the current judges being highlighted as potential candidates—every single public defender, every lawyer, professor—every Black woman who is super talented and can serve, we’ve all faced these obstacles.”
It’s been 150 years since Charlotte Ray became the first Black woman admitted to practice law in the U.S., and 232 years since the creation of the U.S. Supreme Court. No Black woman has ever served on the bench of the highest court in the land. Despite making up roughly 13% of the U.S. population, less than 5% of attorneys are Black, and even fewer are Black women, according to 2020 data gathered by the American Bar Association (ABA). While the last decade has seen the numbers of Black women law deans increase to just under 30, Biden’s as-yet unnamed nominee is already making history.
Danielle Conway said that when Biden reaffirmed his commitment to his promise, she exhaled.
“Just his saying it made me exhale. I am seen. That was my first feeling: he sees me,” said Conway, who is the dean of Penn State Dickinson Law.
She decided to become a lawyer at the tender age of eight, after listening to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech on repeat.
