Joe Biden’s Sordid Legacy

A consummate political animal and a 50-year inhabitant of the Washington swamp, Joe Biden is the poster child of everything that is wrong with our federal government. He went to D.C. in 1973 and has been sucking on Uncle Sam’s teat ever since, “earning” an estimated $9 million as a six-term senator, a two-term vice president, and a one-term president.

I dare you to name a single accomplishment of Joe Biden’s during his 36 years in the U.S. Senate. Stumped? Well, let me help you out. First, he sponsored the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which not only failed to reduce violent crime, but also led to mass incarceration and racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

Second, he tag-teamed with Sen. Ted Kennedy in 1987 to demonize and destroy the reputation of Judge Robert Bork, one of the most qualified jurists ever nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court. Biden used his position as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to vilify Judge Bork and mischaracterize his positions, which led to President Reagan’s nomination of Bork being defeated.

Biden’s treatment of Judge Bork was so disgraceful that the Merriam-Webster Dictionary now recognizes “bork” as a verb and defines it as “to attack or defeat (a nominee or candidate for public office) unfairly through an organized campaign of harsh public criticism or vilification.”

While in the Senate, Biden also helped derail the nomination of Judge Janice Rogers Brown to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The D.C. Circuit is considered the country’s second-most prestigious court and has produced more Supreme Court justices than any other federal court. With her nomination by President George W. Bush in 2003, Brown was immediately hailed as a potential SCOTUS nominee if and when a vacancy occurred.

Despite her stellar resume – Brown served for seven years as an associate justice of the California Supreme Court, the first black woman to do so, and authored more majority opinions than any of her peers – Joe Biden set out to stop Brown in her tracks. And so, he filibustered her nomination, putting an end to Brown’s inspiring life story.

Apparently, it didn't matter to Joe Biden that Judge Brown was the daughter and granddaughter of sharecroppers, who grew up in rural Alabama during the dark days of segregation, when her family bravely refused to enter restaurants or theaters with separate entrances for black customers. And he couldn't have cared less that she rose from poverty and put herself through college and UCLA law school as a working single mother.

Because Brown was an outspoken conservative, Joe Biden did everything in his power to short-circuit her legal career. He succeeded in 2003, but President Bush renominated Brown to the same position in 2005 and this time, she was confirmed 56-43.

However, Joe Biden’s personal vendetta against Brown wasn’t over. When Justice Sandra Day O’Conner retired later that same year, Brown was on Bush’s shortlist to replace her, but Biden responded by threatening yet another filibuster. Joe even told John Roberts on CBS’ Face the Nation that “I can assure you that would be a very, very, very difficult fight and she probably would be filibustered.”

So much for “if you don’t vote for me, you ain’t black,” isn’t that right, Joe? And how do you go from repeatedly using and abusing the filibuster while in the Senate to pushing for its elimination once you became President? Are you really that craven and corrupt?

Sadly, Judge Brown never made it to the Supreme Court, largely because of Joe Biden’s personal antipathy towards her, but guess who did? Samuel J. Alito, who was confirmed to replace Justice O’Connor and has been a thorn in the Progressives’ side ever since.

Gotta love karma, Joe!