Clinton nominated Guinier as Assitant Attorney General for Civil Rights, and then quickly backtracked and withdrew her nomination without even really speaking with her once political opponents falsely painted her as holding extreme positions. Contrast with George H. W. Bush’s unwavering support of Clarence Thomas in the face of sexual assault allegations.
Ironically, one of her “extreme positions” (Cumulative voting could better represent the complete electorate than a simple majority system (Oluo)), was floated as a potential fix for the success Trump had in the initial republican primaries.
“Guinier, who has been a voting rights litigator for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, seeks a society in which a minority can impose its will on the majority,” wrote Lally Weymouth at the Washington Post. 20 — Mediocre, pg 179
There were, of course, a few flaws with the reasoning behind all the outrage over Guinier’s nomination. “No one cared that, in fact, I did not believe in quotas,” explained Guinier in her memoir. 22 If Guinier wasn’t actually advocating for racial quotas in voting, what was she advocating for? Guinier was concerned with the impact that the concepts “one man one vote” and “winner take all” voting were having on the political representation of people of color. — Mediocre, pg 180
In winner-take-all elections, an elected official can represent 51 percent of their electorate and not represent 49 percent of their electorate, and it would still be considered a representative democracy. — Mediocre, pg 180
As a possible solution, Guinier proposed a system of “cumulative voting.” It is not a new system and is practiced successfully in countries all over the world, as well as in multiple cities and counties across the United States. Cumulative voting is a way to increase minority representation by pooling multiple votes across a larger group of candidates and allocating seats based on the pooled votes. — Mediocre, pg 180
Republicans, Independents, and even some Democrats began to ask Clinton to withdraw Guinier’s nomination. Whereas President George H. W. Bush, who had nominated Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, remained a stalwart supporter of Thomas against serious sexual harassment charges, in the face of the rising backlash Clinton didn’t seem very inclined to defend Guinier when she dared to try to address the suppression of minority voters. His first response to the controversy was a tepid dismissal. “The Senate ought to be able to put up with a little controversy for the cause of civil rights,” Clinton told reporters in May. 24 As the backlash continued and Guinier was further caricatured into the image of a white-hating Black supremacist, Clinton remained mostly silent. Clinton’s camp began to pressure Guinier to withdraw her name from consideration, but she refused. Guinier tried to meet with Clinton to discuss the nomination and the controversy, but he wouldn’t even extend to her the basic respect of a meeting. He did not speak with her personally until right before he announced that he was withdrawing her nomination. — Mediocre, pg 182
Concerned with how the large Republican candidate field was spreading moderate support among multiple candidates while concentrating far-right support for Trump, people started bringing up Guinier’s ideas for a voting process that would prevent such a scenario from making someone like Trump the Republican nominee. 51 — Mediocre, pg 196