Girl Scouts apologizes, removes tweet celebrating Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court confirmation
Following a torrent of social media outrage from the left, the Girl Scouts deleted a tweet celebrating newly confirmed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
The Girl Scouts sent out a tweet Wednesday congratulating Barrett on “becoming the 5th woman appointed to the Supreme Court since its inception in 1789.” The tweet featured a picture of Barrett alongside the other women who've served on the Supreme Court: Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
Barrett was confirmed to the Supreme Court by a 52-48 vote in the Senate Monday. Democrats steadfastly opposed Barrett’s confirmation, citing the fact that her nomination was made so close to the 2020 presidential election and objecting to Barrett, an originalist, filling a seat previously held by Ginsburg, the late liberal icon.
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One of the critics of the Girl Scouts’ post was Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., a member of the group of progressive House Democrats known as “the Squad.”
“What kind of patch does one earn for uplifting a woman who is the antithesis of justice?” she asked.
What kind of patch does one earn for uplifting a woman who is the antithesis of justice? https://t.co/Z7TfkymPfL
— Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) October 28, 2020
In the wake of criticism from Pressley and others, the Girl Scouts expressed regret that their post celebrating the female Supreme Court justices, including Barrett, was “quickly viewed as a political and partisan statement” and announced that “we have removed the post.”
Earlier today, we shared a post highlighting the five women who have been appointed to the Supreme Court. It was quickly viewed as a political and partisan statement which was not our intent and we have removed the post.
— Girl Scouts (@girlscouts) October 28, 2020
“Girl Scouts of the USA is a nonpolitical, nonpartisan organization. We are neither red nor blue, but Girl Scout GREEN. We are here to lift up women,” the organization stressed.
A 2013 post to the Girl Scouts’ Twitter account raises questions about the organization’s claim that it is a “nonpolitical, nonpartisan organization.” That year, the Girl Scouts sent out a tweet asking “Why is it so important to have female #leadership in the United States?”
Why is it so important to have female political #leadership in the United States? @HillaryClinton explains: http://t.co/YjQoUgbOF3
— Girl Scouts (@girlscouts) December 20, 2013
The tweet featured a link to a Huffington Post article titled “Hillary Clinton Explains Why Having A Female President Matters.” The article was published as Clinton, an outspoken progressive, was actively considering a run for the White House in the 2016 presidential election. As of Friday afternoon, the tweet remained on the Girl Scouts’ account despite the organization’s removal of the Barrett tweet, citing a desire to hold itself up as a “nonpolitical, nonpartisan organization.”
In the past, the Girl Scouts have expressed sympathy to liberal political positions by allowing boys who identify as girls to join the organization and telling one of its employees, who was wearing a pro-life T-shirt, to turn it inside out. The Girl Scouts’ popular thin mint cookies faced a boycott over the scouting organization’s association with the abortion giant Planned Parenthood, which has given sex education seminars to girls enrolled in the program in the past.
Some of those who've taken issue with the Girl Scouts’ positions on social issues have flocked to other organizations such as the American Heritage Girls, which was “founded in 1995 by a Cincinnati-area woman and her friends who were unhappy with decisions made by the Girl Scouts to accept lesbians as troop leaders, to ban prayer at meetings, and to allow girls to substitute the word ‘God’ in the oath.”
Founded in 1912 by middle-aged widow Juliette Gordon Low, the Girl Scouts has over 2.6 million members and 50 million alumni spread out across 92 countries.
