Bobby Jindal is Fighting Right of First Black Supreme Court Justice to be Chief

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Last updated on September 11th, 2012 at 01:28 am

Republicans Aren’t Racists, But Bobby Jindal is Fighting the Right of First Black Supreme Court Justice to be Chief Justice

Harkening back to the good old days when Republicans told women that they were pro women because Sarah Palin had ovaries and she was on their ticket, Republicans also have minorities in their ranks like Bobby Jindal (Republican Governor of Louisiana), who is Indian-American. This is supposed to put to rest any notion that they are racists, because racists never, ever fight within minorities like say the Hispanic gang members against the African American gang members in East LA (racism is a tool of the powerful to keep the lower ranks fighting among themselves, deliberately implemented by those in power but believed by those out of power).

Standing tall with the “I am/have a friend who’s gay/female/black/Hispanic/etc and therefor it’s okay when my policies suppress you” get-out-of-bigot-jail free card, Bobby Jindal is challenging a U.S. federal judge’s ruling that a female African American Supreme Court Justice can be the Chief justice in Louisiana.

Because Justice Bernette Johnson was originally elected in 1994 but then assigned to serve on the Supreme Court, due to the state’s deal with the federal government over racial discrimination, the all white justices are saying she doesn’t get to be next in line to be the head justice. Her time doesn’t count, because she was appointed and not elected.

Of course, if this were true, George W. Bush would not have ever been able to destroy our economy.

But let us not go down that rabbit hole, since we are told by peeved Republicans that we may not blame Bush for what he really did, because it never happened and if it did, it was Obama’s fault.

Justice Johnson took her case to federal court, to ask that her full tenure on the Supreme Court be reaffirmed. No word on whether or not Jindal is requiring her long form birth certificate yet, but double checking the worthiness of black people is always in the cards when those in power are trying to keep their racial discrimination under wraps. It turns out that the federal court agreed that her time served met the state’s constitutional requirements.

If you’ve read your history or even this article, you already know what Jindal’s argument was in his appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals of the federal court’s ruling.

Say it with me: State’s rights! “The issue on appeal is not who should serve as the next Chief Justice, but whether the Louisiana Supreme Court should be prohibited by a federal court from interpreting the state’s constitution.”

That’s right, because remember, it was the federal court who ordered them to have a minority on the court in the first place. But who needs the feds telling bigots what to do? Way back in the good old days of the Civil War (where no doubt, Republicans aim to take us again), arguments for “state’s rights” were code for legislating racial discrimination. And nothing much has changed these days.

And it was a federal court that sided with Justice Johnson just six days ago:

U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan ruled that Johnson had the seniority to succeed Chief Justice Catherine “Kitty” Kimball when she retires early next year.

Morgan validated Johnson’s service as counting toward having the longest tenure. Republicans will claim this is not about racism, and yet they have given no valid reason for fighting Johnson’s seniority other than her being forced upon them due to their racial discrimination, and given the reality that they were forced to have her on their court in the first place, it’s getting really hard to avoid the elephant in the room.

Even the mainstream media isn’t avoiding it, noting things like “Morgan sided with Johnson’s bid to become the state’s first black chief justice” and Reuters noting that Jindal is fighting the ruling that would “allow a black state supreme court justice to become the court’s next chief justice”, while noting not only Jindal’s racial make up, but the all white court. Clearly, the racial make up of the players is an issue.

They’re just not coming out and saying that yes, Bobby Jindal is engaging in racism and discrimination. And why? Yes, why would you suppose that Bobby Jindal would care who makes up the courts that will decide on things like whether or not Republican voter ID laws are fair and if their redistricting is fair? Heavens, we can’t have actual representatives of the people making decisions like that.

The Republican thinking goes something like this:

Have we seen Justice Johnson’s long, long form birth certificate? It’s not that we’re racists, it’s just that we don’t believe she’s qualified to do the job because her time serving the court is not as good as the white guy who served less time. It doesn’t count, see? She’s gonna have to prove through many, many courts that she is valid. And in reality, we really, really don’t want to be ruled by black people, because they will not agree with being suppressed by our laws, and that would be a real drag. Things work out so much better when the feds stay out of our business, and let us run things like we want to. Y’all might think black people have rights, but down here, we know how to keep ’em in their place.

And their place is most assuredly not in the White House or as Chief Justice.

Southern strategy? We’re not racists! We love the coloreds. We just don’t want them in charge of anything. Especially after Barack Obama humiliated the white boys with his competency in cleaning up after their mess and then had the audacity to own it, taking even remote, proxy credit for making the decision to get bin Laden. We draw the line at letting the coloreds take credit for their work. They have to know their place. But it’s not about race; it’s about state’s rights to impose racial discrimination. Get it?

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