The Time is Ripe For an African American Woman on the American Supreme Court

"If the time is not ripe, we have to ripen the time."
--Dr. Dorothy Irene Height

President Obama is scheduled to meet today with the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senators Leahy and McConnell. On the agenda is the pending vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). Specifically, a timetable for the nomination, the confirmation hearings, and more importantly, the names of possible nominees will be the topic of discussion.

As it stands, if media reports are credible, the three or four people widely reported as likely finalists to replace Justice John Paul Steven are all White. Reportedly, there are two women, but there is not one African American among the contenders? Not one-just as was the case during President Obama's first SCOTUS nomination, when Justice Sotomayor was tapped.

Am I the only one who finds this troublesome?

This is hard to swallow, particularly since, as I wrote earlier, "never has there been a wider pool--and never will the time be riper--for the appointment of a progressive Black woman to the SCOTUS. Particularly since the Pew Research Center reports that 'overall, among all racial, ethnic and gender groups, [B]lack women had the highest voter turnout rate in November's [2008] election [68.8 percent]--a first.' This should yield real, bankable--and measurable-- capital for a loyal and stalwart constituency."

It is also hard to understand why the Black press, by-and-large, has not raised the question of the possibility of a SCOTUS nominee who relates to the plight of African Americans?

One exception is Hazel Trice Edney, National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) Washington Correspondent. In her article "Obama Should Consider First Black Woman for Supreme Court, Jurists Say," Edney cites Obama mentor, Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree, who feels that Black women should not be among the invisible.

Ogletree points out that "when you think about the success of Black women running universities, running corporations being involved as leaders in religion ... you see that we have talents in every conceivable place. It doesn't take rocket science to know that there are exceptionally qualified people."

This is no secret.

To be sure, there are numerous Black women who could bring a wealth of legal expertise, a sense of fairness, and an appreciation for the rule of law. In my article, "No (Black) Justice, No Peace?," I profiled, among others, The Honorable Ann Claire Williams, 60, United States Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and Dr. Phoebe A. Haddon, 59, Dean of the University of Maryland School of Law. And there are no doubt others.

Also, within the ideal forty-something age range, there is Cheryl D. Mills 45, Counselor and Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was reportedly set to nominate Mills for the High Court--had she been elected president. Of course, Hillary didn't become president, largely, thanks to the Black female vote for candidate Obama, including mine. Right now, I can't think of any more profound irony. Can you?

But I digress.

The BBC reported that--in her role as Associate Counsel to President Bill Clinton--Mills was "widely regarded as the shining star of the defense team" during the president's impeachment trial. Soon thereafter, she was promoted to Deputy White House Counsel and subsequently offered the White House Counsel post, which she declined. She went on to serve as Senior Vice President of Corporate Policy and Public Programming and General Counsel for Oprah Winfrey's Oxygen Media and, later, as Chief Operating Officer for NYU.

Of course, President Obama knows of these and many other imminently qualified Black female esquires worthy of elevation to the high court. The question is: Why are they being passed over, if one is to believe media reports? Is it because the re-shaping of the Supreme Court does not seem to be on the radar screen of Black America?

That is, could it be because Black advocacy groups have not made the High Court part of the "Black Agenda"? Apparently, they have forgotten the landmark Supreme Court case, Bush v. Gore, when the High Court--by a vote of 5-4--stopped the recount of the presidential votes in Florida, effectively handing George W. Bush the presidency.

This bit of history is presented here as a reminder for those who ask why I am making such a big deal about Obama's Supreme Court nominations. In the inimitable words of Vice President Joe Biden, " this is a big effing deal."

And this is not lost on the politically astute. That's why interest groups have historically lobbied the POTUS with regard to the make-up of the SCOTUS. Presidents expect it. And President Obama is no exception. Even Ogletree pointedly said--during the "Measuring the Movement" Conference convened by The Reverend Al Sharpton to hammer out a "Black Agenda"--that President Obama appreciates a challenge and that he "likes criticism."

This is reminiscent of Amy Goodman's rendering of an historical anecdote shared by candidate Obama during a campaign rally. As she writes in "Make Obama Keep his Promises," candidate Obama, while answering a question, recounted the story of A. Phillip Randolph's meeting with President FDR. Randolph reportedly asked Roosevelt what he planned to do to address the historic problems confronting the Black community, this during the Jim Crow era. That is to say, Randolph inquired about FDR's "Black Agenda."

FDR reportedly gave the following oft-quoted reply: "I've heard everything you've said tonight...and I agree with everything that you've said, including my capacity to be able to right many of these wrongs and to use my power and the bully pulpit... But I would ask one thing of you...and that is, go out and make me do it."

And I think we should take President Obama at his word.

Now, of course, no one can physically "make" the POTUS do anything; however, there are ways of persuading the Commander-in-Chief. As FDR and Obama have hinted, within the American body politic, it is the squeaky wheel that gets the oil. Frederick Douglass said it thus: "Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."

In this spirit, I have started a petition urging President Obama and members of Congress to nominate and ultimately confirm the first African American woman to the SCOTUS. As I said in "It is High Time for a Black Woman on the High Court: Part II," "we must make our voices heard with regard to the changing composition of the Supreme Court, lest we emerge from the Obama era with Clarence Thomas still the lone Black face among the nine."

If you would like to participate in trying to shape the arc of American judicial history, then please click here and sign the petition, "It is High Time for a Black Woman on the High Court." Time is of the essence. We must, in the words of candidate Obama, recognize "the fierce urgency of now."

In closing, I must reiterate, never has the time been riper for the nomination of a Black woman to the "Highest Court in the Land."

Indeed, when I heard of the passing of our legendary Delta Sigma Theta soror, Dr. Dorothy Height, I immediately thought of all her tireless work during her four decades as president of the National Council of Negro Women. Initially, I was saddened, but then I smiled when I read her trademark credo, which I will close with here: "If the time is not ripe, we have to ripen the time."

Indeed.