After initially recognizing Judge Amy Coney Barrett on social media for her nomination to the highest court in the United States, Judge Barrett’s sorority, Kappa Delta, deleted the post and apologized for being “hurtful to many.”
Let’s back up and put this accomplishment in context: An alumna from Kappa Delta with a distinguished career in law, first as a SCOTUS clerk, then a private practice lawyer, then a professor at Notre Dame Law School, and most recently as an Appeals Court judge, has been nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States. So far in American history, only four women have served as Supreme Court Justices. If confirmed, Judge Barrett would become the fifth woman justice. Ever. In all U.S. history.
It’s natural that Kappa Delta would express pride in and congratulations to an alumna in this situation. Here’s what the KD national Twitter account had to say in their now-deleted original tweet: “KD alumna Amy Coney Barrett was nominated to serve on the Supreme Court. While we do not take a stand on political appointments, we recognize Judge Coney Barrett’s significant accomplishment. We acknowledge our members have a variety of views and a right to their own beliefs.”
Ok, they aren’t jumping up and down here. But they acknowledged it. As they well should. But apparently even acknowledging Judge Barrett’s success was not acceptable. After some feedback (!), KD took the original tweet down, and instead offered an apology, saying, among other things, “Earlier this year, we began an intentional journey… with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Part of this process is recognizing we always need to have a more diverse group at all tables to make decisions in a more inclusive and holistic manner.”
The irony appears to be lost on KD national that this is exactly what Judge Barrett’s nomination represents: a more diverse group at the table, a more diverse Supreme Court, where Judge Barrett would be the first mother of school-aged children to ever serve on the Court. She would be the first woman originalist jurist to serve on the Court. Her nomination is historic precisely because of the diversity she represents.
The late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg (whom I would imagine would get a better reception at KD headquarters than Judge Barrett) even said that she looked forward to the day when there would be more women on the Court—women who were “not shaped from the same mold.”
Sadly, KD’s decision to give in to the woke mob and take down a (pretty tame and unexcited) congratulatory acknowledgement tweet about Judge Barrett’s nomination sends a strong message. It sends a message not just to Judge Barrett and not just to KD alumnae but to all women and girls that if their success is in any way related to being a conservative, their success will not be celebrated because it “hurts” and “offends” so many.
Give me a break. I wasn’t in KD, but I was a member of a Panhellenic sorority (Phi Mu), so I have firsthand experience with the sisterhood that sororities intend to offer members. Some of my best friends — indeed, 4 of my bridesmaids — were sorority sisters of mine. We shared a lot of fun times in college and developed strong, supportive friendships. I found that doing college life with the group of women in my sorority was empowering and enjoyable (and I feel the same way now about IWF)!
But it’s not empowering to watch Kappa Delta cower to the mean girls who’d rather erase Judge Barrett’s success than acknowledge it.
This episode is sad but not surprising. Left-leaning feminists have a tendency to “believe all women” and say “I’m with her!” when it’s politically convenient. They often quote Madeleine Albright, who once said, “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other.”
But I’m guessing that line isn’t one that KD national will tweet any time soon.
So much for sisterhood. What a joke.