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Opinion

The Law Debased

The Law Debased
A statue of the goddess of Justice balancing the scales at Rennes' courthouse in Brittany, France, on May 19, 2015. Damien Meyer/AFP via Getty Images
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Commentary

When President Joe Biden, then still only a candidate for the presidency, promised to elevate a black woman to the Supreme Court if and when a vacancy occurred, he struck not only at the ideal of the rule of law, but also at the very possibility of human rationality itself. He was far from the first to do this, of course: In fact, anyone who advocates racial quotas in the distribution of public (or any other) offices does so. But still, his pronouncement was unusually foolish, cynical, or shameless.

Theodore Dalrymple
Theodore Dalrymple
Author
Theodore Dalrymple is a retired doctor. He is contributing editor of the City Journal of New York and the author of 30 books, including “Life at the Bottom.” His latest book is “Embargo and Other Stories.”
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