Winsome Sears Calls Ketanji Brown Jackson A Diversity Hire

Virginia’s lieutenant governor, Winsome Sears, called Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson a diversity hire while discussing Jackson’s dissent to the court’s affirmative action decision on Thursday.

The Supreme Court ruled against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina’s affirmative action policies in a decision that will have a profound effect on the admissions processes at universities across the country.

Fox News host Martha MacCallum asked Sears how she would respond to Jackson and the other dissenting justices, who argued the court’s decision was a step back for equality.

“Well, what you have is a justice who was chosen because she’s black and because she’s a woman,” Sears said. “That’s what we’re understanding now, what a woman is.”

Winsome Sears on Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson:

"What you have is a justice who was chosen because she's black and because she's a woman…" pic.twitter.com/v12L6gqHLH

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 29, 2023

Sears added that the state of education in the country is at a crisis level.

“While we’re playing these stupid games, I’m saying that education and the lack of it in America is risen to a national crisis. China is not playing these stupid games. China is interested in total world domination, and so is Russia and the rest of them. That’s what we have to be concerned about. Our children are not learning.”

Sears mentioned the large portion of college students who need remedial education within their first year. As many as 60% of college students are placed in remedial courses during their first year, costing $1 billion a year, according to the Center for American Progress, which leans left.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP

“I’m pulling for school choice. School choice now. Our children are in need,” Sears said.

“The slaves did not die in the fields so we could be saying in this century that we are victims,” Sears said later in the Fox segment. “They would say to us, ‘Is that what we died for? No. We died for you to have an opportunity. Take it. You have that.’ We have had a black president.”

WINSOME SEARS: "The slaves did not die in the fields so we could be saying, in this century, that we are victims…They would say to us, is THAT what we died for?! No. We died for you to have an opportunity. Take it! You have that!"

"If you are a victim, that means you need a… pic.twitter.com/hXO6UCAOmC

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 29, 2023

The affirmative action case landed before the Supreme Court after a group called Students for Fair Admissions sued the two elite schools, accusing them of unfairly factoring race into their admissions processes. The group pointed to the high test scores of Asian American and white applicants who were rejected.

The Supreme Court ruled that the race-based admissions programs at Harvard violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the University of North Carolina violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

The court voted six to three in the University of North Carolina case and six to two in the Harvard case. Justice Jackson, a Harvard graduate and former Harvard board member, recused herself from the Harvard case.

“Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the opinion for the majority.

“Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise. But, despite the dissent’s assertion to the contrary, universities may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today,” the court’s opinion stated.

Justices Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor both penned dissents.

In her dissent, Jackson called the majority’s decision “truly a tragedy for us all.”