Whether or not one agrees (as I do) with law professor John McGinnis’s superb essay on the theoretical and practical problems with the Left’s heavy emphasis on diversity as a criterion in selecting judges, President Biden seems intent on satisfying the Left’s demands.
Biden today announced his third slate of judicial nominees. There are five women among the six picks. If I’m reading the announcement correctly, the five women consist of three blacks, including one who is both black and Asian American, one Native American, and one immigrant (not clear from where). The lone male is Puerto Rican. The picks also display the professional diversity sought by the Left, as three of them are, or have been, federal defenders.
It’s a striking testament to the White House’s drive for diversity that not one of Biden’s first twenty judicial nominations is a white male.
It would seem, though, that the liberal Latino groups that complained that they were “extremely disappointed” that only one of the nominees on Biden’s first slate of eleven picks is of Latino ethnicity would have ample cause to complain that they are on the short end again. The only Latino nominee on today’s slate, Gustavo A. Gelpí, Jr., is being nominated to the putative Puerto Rico seat on the First Circuit. In other words, the seat, filling the vacancy left by the death last October of Juan R. Torruella, was almost certainly going to be filled by a Puerto Rican. (President Trump unsuccessfully nominated federal district judge Raúl M. Arias-Marxuach to fill the vacancy.) What’s more, Gelpí was appointed to his current federal district judgeship by George W. Bush, and, like the lone Hispanic nominee on Biden’s first slate, would seem not to have the staunch progressive credentials the Left seeks (though he did work as a federal public defender for four years early in his career).
Eight of Biden’s 20 nominees—40%—so far are black. Three—15%—are Latino. Latinos account for 18.5% of the America population, and blacks account for 12.2%. Each group makes up around 5% of American lawyers. (See p. 34 of this ABA report.) So if you’re looking at the broader population, the number of Biden’s Latino nominees ought to be 50% higher (not 62.5% lower) than the number of Biden’s black nominees. And if you’re looking at American lawyers, the numbers ought to be about the same. (I added this last paragraph a few hours after my initial posting.)