LETTER: New justice, decision on affirmative action won’t need to be reconciled

In his Jan. 30 letter, Carmine A. DiFazio wonders how “the legal ruling” by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case alleging racial discrimination in college admissions can be “reconciled” with President Joe Biden’s announced decision to appoint a Black woman to high court.

It is premature to try to reconcile any legal ruling, because no ruling has yet been rendered and we do not know what the ruling will say. Indeed, Mr. DiFazio acknowledges that the Supreme Court will hear the case “next session” (which does not even commence until October of this year, with the ruling expected in 2023).

But more importantly, Article II, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution states that the president alone has the executive power to “nominate” a Supreme Court justice with “the advice and consent of the Senate.”

Therefore, regardless of what the Supreme Court ruling ultimately states about college admissions practices, it will likely have no effect upon, nor have to be “reconciled” with, the power granted to Mr. Biden and all other presidents under the Constitution.