(Photo
by
Chip
Somodevilla/Getty
Images)
When
Justice
Ketanji
Brown
Jackson
was
first
nominated
to
the
United
States
Supreme
Court,
then-Georgetown
instructor
posted
about
the
nominee
(at
that
point
between
Jackson
and
Leondra
Kruger)
as
“lesser
black
women.”
It
wasn’t
exactly
unexpected.
When
Sonia
Sotomayor
was
nominated,
Chicago
law
professor
Todd
Henderson
called
her
“a
second-class
intellect”
only
nominated
for
her
“Latinaness,”
even
though
he’s
the
tier
of
intellect
that
writes
fan
fiction
about
Elon
Musk’s
legal
genius
so
off
base
that
even
Musk
retreated
from
his
nonsense
stand
almost
immediately
afterward.
The
point
is,
these
ostensibly
qualified
conservatives
stumble
all
over
themselves
not
just
to
downplay
a
Democratic
nominee’s
accomplishments
or
qualifications,
but
to
draw
a
direct
line
to
their
ethnicity
as
the
source
of
their
shortcomings.
And
the
shortcoming
is
never,
“I
have
grave
doubts
about
their
dormant
commerce
clause
jurisprudence,”
it’s
that
they’re
“lesser”
and
“second-class.”
They
never
construct
any
specific,
coherent
critique
beyond
“minorities
and
women
are
dumb
and
undeserving.”
Or
at
least
some
women
and
minorities
are.
When
Amy
Coney
Barrett
took
half
the
record
Jackson
had
and
parlayed
it
to
the
Supreme
Court,
these
guys
didn’t
seem
to
have
any
issues.
It’s
all
about
building
a
narrative
to
give
succor
to
even
more
odious
voices
to
let
their
—
inevitably
Confederate
—
flags
fly.
The
text
pretty
much
sums
up
the
first
video.
The
second
clip,
on
the
other
hand,
is
truly
wild
to
behold.
After
the
first
video
went
viral,
Vaughn
took
to
the
air
to
“apologize.”
Anyone
that
knows
me
personally
knows
that
I
don’t
have
a
racist
bone
in
my
body.
But
a
lot
of
people
don’t
know
me
personally,
do
they?
So
they
go
by
what
I
say.
And
if
you’re
just
going
by
what
I
said
that
night,
you
have
every
right
to
be
offended.
Sure,
if
you’re
going
to
judge
me
by
my
actual
behavior
this
looks
bad,
but…
Thank
you
for
letting
me
learn
from
this
experience,
and
I
WILL
learn
from
this
experience.
Aw,
well
that’s
nice.
What
exactly
did
he
learn
from
the
experience?
I
still
think
she’s
a
dummy.
I
still
think
she
talks
monkey
talk.
I
still
think
that
she’s
ignorant,
dumb,
and
should
not
be
wearing
a
robe.
And
should
be
living
in
the
jungle
as
Judge
Jumanji,
okay.
But
her
physical
appearance…
off
limits.
He’s
not
learned
from
the
experience,
you
guys.
He
thinks
the
problem
was
the
“lips”
line.
Which
was
not
NOT
the
problem!
But
he
might
need
to
take
a
more
expansive
view
of
what
what
he
said
because
he
might
still
have
some
racism
hanging
out
in
the
marrow.
But
the
important
takeaway
is
that
every
one
of
these
jerkoffs
take
their
cues
from
guys
like
Shapiro
and
Henderson.
Because
if
the
law
professors
get
away
with
“lesser
black
women,”
what’s
stopping
them
from
reaching
for
the
racist
framing
and
pushing
it
to
the
limit.
To
borrow
from
the
apocryphal
Churchill
(or
George
Bernard
Shaw
or
Twain)
story
about
prostitution,
we’ve
already
established
what
the
conservative
legal
movement
believes,
now
we’re
just
quibbling
over
how
loudly
they
say
it.
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter if
you’re
interested
in
law,
politics,
and
a
healthy
dose
of
college
sports
news.
Joe
also
serves
as
a
Managing
Director
at
RPN
Executive
Search.