Whoopi on Biden Nominating a Black Woman to the Supreme Court: 'It's Time for Us to Be There'

Whoopi Goldberg is shutting down conservatives complaining about President Biden's pledge to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court. In a matter-of-fact monologue on The View Thursday morning, Whoopi insisted that now is the moment to diversify the court, which has welcomed just four non-white justices (of 115 total) during its 233-year history. "It's not like we've been there and just lingering like bad farts!" said the longtime moderator. "It's time for us to be there."

On Wednesday afternoon, justice Stephen Breyer announced that he will be retiring after more than 27 years on the Supreme Court, prompting questions about who Biden will pick to fill his seat. "Yesterday, the White House reiterated President Biden's wish to nominate the first Black female Supreme Court justice to fill the vacancy," explained Whoopi at the top of Thursday's show. "But some people, they say, 'Ooh, more affirmative action.'"

To counter that point, Whoopi reminded conservatives that "in the 233 years that we've had 115 Supreme Court justices, 111 of them have been white," and the first Black justice, Thurgood Marshall, wasn't nominated until 1967. "I wouldn't say that it's anything but time," she said, as Joy Behar added that nominating a Black woman "is not exactly overkill."

WILL BIDEN NOMINATE FIRST BLACK FEMALE JUSTICE? With Supreme Court Justice Breyer set to announce his retirement, #TheView reacts after the White House stood by Pres. Biden’s pledge to nominate a Black woman to fill the vacancy. https://t.co/IwKfqPcizQ pic.twitter.com/08Efj8C2Vy

— The View (@TheView) January 27, 2022

After some back and forth, during which Sunny Hostin threw her support behind DC Circuit Court of Appeals judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, Behar made a case for diminishing the Supreme Court's power altogether. "The Supreme Court is like this dictatorial branch of the government. These are people are appointed by their own people, they do not answer to the country, they are there for life," she said. "I always feel like that particular branch of government is so anti-democracy — the fact that there are no term limits, the fact that you can put your people on because they agree with you, and then they're there forever, influencing three, four generations of Americans. To call that a democratic institution seems like an oxymoron!"

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.