So about that Supreme Court pick ...

Jan 28, 2022

With help from Rishika Dugyala and Teresa Wiltz

Lonita Baker

POLITICO Illustration/Photo by AP

What up Recast family! Vice President Kamala Harris attends the inauguration of the new Honduran president hoping to shore up support of a Northern Triangle ally and New York Mayor Eric Adams blasts Sarah Palin for visiting his city while being Covid positive. But we kick things off with big news about the Supremes.

What a difference a week makes.

The Biden presidency was in the doldrums after a pair of moderate Democrats doomed his push to change Senate rules in order to pass a federal voting rights overhaul.

He signaled a willingness to break his stalled Build Back Better, the massive climate and social spending bill, into "chunks" to get parts of it passed. Then of course there's the ongoing escalation with Russia over interference with Ukraine.

Then came the agenda-resetting announcement this week of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer stepping down, allowing Biden a chance to, if not alter the court's ideological balance, make history by selecting the first Black woman to the bench.

"It's long overdue, in my view," Biden said Thursday afternoon at Breyer's retirement ceremony.

Lonita Baker, president-elect of the National Bar Association — the largest organization of Black judges and attorneys in the country — agrees.

On Friday, the organization urged the White House to consider Judge J. Michelle Childs and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as nominees to fill Breyer's seat.

Baker, a Louisville-based attorney who will take over as president of the organization in July, says she's excited about the prospect of having a Black woman on the Supreme Court. But she's not convinced it's enough to assuage Black voters — particularly after the Biden administration's failure to launch voting rights and police reform.

Baker came to national attention for her work with Benjamin Crump representing the family of Breonna Taylor, a Black emergency room technician who was killed by Louisville police in 2020. Her name became a rallying cry around the country

We chop it up about her hopes for a woman on the high court, the 2022 midterms and the potential impact of Taylor's killing on upcoming races in Louisville.

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This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

THE RECAST: President Biden reiterated his campaign pledge to select a Black woman to be the next Supreme Court justice. Generally speaking, what do you make of this development and that he, as president, was unequivocal about keeping his promise?

BAKER: I'm pleased to hear that President Biden is keeping this promise. As we know, it's been hard to get some of the things that were committed [to] during the campaign season for Black communities passed. So I am happy to see that he is sticking to his commitments to appoint a Black woman to the Supreme Court of the United States to replace Justice Breyer. I think it's long overdue.

Lonita Baker:

And when we get that true reflection of justice, true reflection of what society looks like, can we even begin to believe that we have any semblance of justice on the court.

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THE RECAST: Do you feel like this commitment changes the narrative and makes folks at least look past the fact that big agenda items like voting rights and police reform, even his domestic and social spending plan Build Back Better are stalled right now?

BAKER: Absolutely not. I do not think that it makes us turn our head or forget that we have not gotten those commitments fulfilled yet. I think we all know that there's still work to be done. We still need voting rights and election protection initiatives and laws passed, we need criminal justice reform initiatives.

So we need all of that, we want all of that, we're going to continue to fight for all of that. But we now have the opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court justice.

And going into midterms, he can't afford to have that be one more thing that he walks back on.

Lonita Baker speaks to the media

Attorney Lonita Baker part of the legal team that represents the interests of Breonna Taylors family, speaks with members of the media in April 2021 in Louisville, Kentucky. | Jon Cherry/Getty Images

THE RECAST: Biden is coming off a really bad couple of weeks. He was asked at the press conference marking his first year in office last week about concerns among Black voters that he wasn't fighting hard enough for their priorities. Do you feel like this selection, whoever it ends up being, is a political move to shore up his base?

BAKER: I don't think it's simply a political move. I think this was a promise he made during the election season and it's a promise that he is fulfilling.

I don't think that that alone is going to be enough to necessarily engage this bloc of voters. I think that there's going to be a continued push if Democrats want younger Black voters to get out and mobilize the way that they need them to in order to be successful in these midterm elections.

Lonita Baker:

I think he would be naive to believe that alone would mobilize … the millennial and younger crowd that we need to turn out to vote to be successful.

THE RECAST: Well, you're actually in a district with a closely watched primary in Louisville to replace the retiring House Budget Chair John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) with Democrats Attica Scott and Morgan McGarvey among the field of candidates.

Do you have any insights on how that race is going? Will the issue of the Supreme Court or the shooting death of Breonna Taylor play any role in the primary?

BAKER: I know one of the things that the Breonna Taylor Foundation is really focusing on, which is a nonprofit organization created by [Tamika Palmer] Breonna's mom, [which] focuses on getting out the vote initiatives.

Lonita Baker in Jefferson Square Park

Attorney Lonita Baker speaks at a gathering in Jefferson Square Park in September 2020 to address Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron's handling of the Breonna Taylor case. | Brandon Bell/Getty Images

It's nonpartisan, of course, but it's continuing to stress the importance to everyone that our justice system is where it is, our police departments are where they are, because they all stem from elections. And a lot of it is getting out in primary elections and making sure your voice is heard in primary elections.

If we wait until November to get to the ballot box, that's when we get to "Oh well, I don't like either candidate, so I'm not going [to vote]."

But if we really turn out that vote for the primary elections, regardless of political party, that's when [voters] can really get the candidates that are more representative of our beliefs.

Ben Crump, Tamika Palmer and Lonita Baker

Attorney Benjamin Crump (left) and co-counsel Lonita Baker (right) address the media with Breonna Taylor's mother Tamika Palmer outside Louisville City Hall in August 2020. | John Sommers II/Getty Images

THE RECAST: We're now a couple of years removed from Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron's decision to not pursue charges against the police officers for Taylor's killing. Is this case still a galvanizing issue for residents in Louisville?

BAKER: It's still an issue. We still have the Department of Justice here that's doing this pattern-or-practice investigation of the local Metro Police Department. So people have a vested interest in how that turns out.

We have the mayoral election , which — they and they alone — get to appoint the police chief. So people have a vested interest in who's going to be a mayor and what type of chief are you looking for to come in here.

And also, from a federal level, Ms. Palmer, Breonna's mom, is still awaiting that decision from the ongoing federal investigation into the wrongdoings of the officers involved in Breonna's [killing].

So long as that's pending, and again, this is [now] President Biden's Department of Justice. We're coming up on the two-year mark, when the feds took over the investigation in the summer of 2020 [under Trump's Attorney General William Barr] and we've not heard anything yet.

It almost feels like when the DOJ takes over these investigations, at times, it seems like they're so prolonged. It's like why? Are you waiting for people to lose interest so that then you come back and say, "No."

It's like, take [the investigation seriously], wrap them up, and let us know what happens next.

Lonita Baker at a press conference in Louisville City Hall

Lonita Baker, lawyer to the family of the late Breonna Taylor, speaks at a press conference with attorney Ben Crump at Louisville City Hall in September 2020. | Jon Cherry/Getty Images

THE RECAST: I want to go back to your point about justices needing to be more reflective of the United States. A lot of what happens in court proceedings is like, yes, you argue a case. But there's also a connection with the judge, with the jury, and in this instance we're talking about the Supreme Court. Does it make a difference when you are arguing a case before a judge that looks like you versus one that doesn't?

BAKER: As most Black professionals in America, it's the code switch, right? Whenever I go into court, I have to turn it on.

I don't know if it's just a self-imposed burden, but I need to be better, be smarter, be wiser, and always be ahead of my opponent. I can't give the judge any reason to give the edge to my opponent, simply because there [might be] a connection there.

And I do want to say, because we're talking about the first Black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court … I hope it's one that has the ideology of a Black woman and can appreciate some of the struggles that we've gone through in this nation and some of the inequities in the justice system that people face. Of course they have to be neutral and unbiased.

But, I'm going to say this myself [not as president-elect of the National Bar Association]:

Lonita Baker:

That definitely would not get President Biden any favors from the Black community. That's Lonita Baker, not for the Breonna Taylor Foundation, not for the National Bar Association, that's Lonita Baker speaking solely for Lonita Baker (laughs).

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Happy Friday! We hope the next couple days off will be good for ya. Of course some of our Recast fam in the Northeast could be buried under 20 inches of snow! Yikes. OK, let's get on to our quick pops and must-reads heading into the weekend!

As we mentioned, Biden's pick for the Supreme Court is now kicked to the top of his domestic agenda. POLITICO's Christopher Cadelago, Laura Barrón-López and Marianne Levine on why Senate Democrats want him to nominate someone — FAST — which is typically not Biden's style.

Joe Biden

President Joe Biden speaks about the coming retirement of U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer in the White House on Thursday. | Getty Images

While many predict Biden's SCOTUS pick may help boost his sagging poll numbers, POLITICO's Natalie Allison reports the pick and the confirmation process isn't likely to play a major role in the Senate races this year.

New York Mayor Eric Adams slammed former Alaska Gov./former VP candidate Sarah Palin for kicking it in his city while infected with Covid. POLITICO's Joe Anuta has more on this brouhaha.

A Wisconsin court will decide today whether acquitted Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse will be able to get the military style weapon back that he used to kill two people and injure a third during civil unrest in 2020. Rittenhouse says he wants the gun, along with the clothing he wore that night — so he can destroy them.

The first of the four-part documentary from W. Kamau Bell, "We Need To Talk About Cosby," on the fall from grace of the comedy legend, debuts on Showtime this weekend.

And speaking of documentaries: Janet Jackson spills the tea on… everything , in a special, two-part documentary airing tonight on Lifetime.

Aziz Ansari is back on stage, this time with a 30-minute standup special on Netflix, "Nightclub Comedian."

In book news, Donna Barba Higuera's "La Cuentista" won a prestigious Newberry medal, the highest award for children's literature, and there's a new translation of "Arabian Nights ." Meanwhile, as we wait to see who'll get the nod for Supreme Court, check out "Civil Rights Queen," a new biography of Constance Baker Motley , the first Black woman elected to the New York Senate and to serve as a federal judge.

"Squid Game" is coming back for more mayhem.

Dancers are finding ways to make art despite the restrictions of this never-ending pandemic: Alvin Ailey's Jamar Roberts is choreographing a ballet for New York City Ballet; and the inimitable choreographer Bill T. Jones is teaming up with Tariq Trotter, AKA Black Thought from The Roots to create "Black No More," " an expansive, Afro-futuristic take on race relations in America. " Can't wait.

Some people always have to make life so … complicated.