Photos: National Bar Association\Twitter
Washington, D.C., February 2, 2022- The National Bar Association (NBA) is denouncing the racist tweets of Georgetown University Law Center (GULC) lecturer Ilya Shapiro (above) who said President Biden is about to pick a “lesser Black woman” to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
The National Bar Association recently applauded the Biden Administration’s commitment to appoint the first Black woman to the Supreme Court of the United States. Specifically, the NBA has issued public support for two potential candidates, Judge J. Michelle Childs, and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Despite the admirable decision by President Biden to make this historic appointment, critics have taken to unfoundedly criticize the potential candidates of color.
In particular, earlier this week, Ilya Shapiro, a newly hired Georgetown University Law Center (GULC) lecturer, took to Twitter stating that Biden’s decision to appoint a woman of color to the seat vacated by Justice Stephen Breyer in light of his retirement, would inevitably result in the selection of a “lesser Black woman,” rather the “objectively best pick.”
While GULC has taken a positive first step by suspending him, the NBA condemns Shapiro’s racist statements, and urges that GULC swiftly relieve him of his duties at the law center permanently. The NBA boasts numerous GULC alumni dismayed by the detestable statements, and believe they are not in line with the tenants upon which the school was founded.
“The two Black women front runners for the vacant SCOTUS seat are not “lesser” in any fashion. Both exceptionally qualified with remarkable pedigrees, our Nation’s Highest Court would be served well to have either Childs or Jackson seated on the bench. Ilya Shapiro’s comments were inexcusably racist and reflect exactly why the SCOTUS must boast diversity,” stated NBA President Carlos E. Moore.
The National Bar Association was founded in 1925 and is the nation’s oldest and largest national network of predominantly African-American attorneys and judges. It represents the interests of more than 65,000 lawyers, judges, law professors and law students. The NBA is organized around 23 substantive law sections, 9 divisions, 12 regions and 84 affiliate chapters throughout the United States and around the world. For more information, visit: www.nationalbar.org.
