PRESS RELEASE: Fill Justice Stevens’ Seat with a Woman!
April 5, 2010
by The New Agenda
|The following press release has been sent to the media.
For Immediate Release
The Supreme Court is Still Stacked Against Women
The New Agenda calls on President Obama to select a woman to fill Justice Stevens’ seat
The New Agenda, a non-partisan organization dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls women is calling on President Obama to fill the seat that will be vacated by Justice Stevens with a qualified woman. Even with President Obama’s selection of Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor, women are still under-represented in the Supreme Court.
“Women bring a different set of life experiences to the bench,” said The New Agenda President Amy Siskind. “Only a woman can understand the great disparities that women and men face in everyday life. We call on President Obama to move the Supreme Court closer to the population that it is meant to represent by selecting another qualified woman.”
The field of law would benefit greatly from a feminine perspective. Upon learning that John Roberts would take her place, former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor declared him “good in every way, except he’s not a woman.”
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has also been an outspoken advocate for having more women on the Supreme Court: “…there are perceptions that we have because we are women. It’s a subtle influence. We can be sensitive to things that are said in draft opinions that (male justices) are not aware can be offensive.”
“There is an amazing pool of incredibly talented women who are leaders in the field of law,” said The New Agenda President Amy Siskind. “We look forward to President Obama selecting one of them.”
To reinforce the message that there is a rich pool of candidates, The New Agenda released the following list of exemplar candidates for the Supreme Court seat.
- Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm: Harvard Law School graduate, former federal prosecutor and a county attorney
- Kathleen Sullivan: dean of the Stanford Law School after teaching at Harvard Law School. Has argued key cases before the Supreme Court
- Diane Pamela Wood: longtime professor at the University of Chicago Law School, federal appeals court judge (7th Circuit)
- Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears: the first black woman to be appointed chief justice in any state
- Kimberly McLane Wardlaw: federal appeals court judge in California, and would be the first Hispanic woman on the Supreme Court.
- Sandra Lea Lynch: chief judge of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
- Elena Kagan: U.S. Solicitor General
- M. Margaret McKeown: 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
- Pamela S. Karlan: Stanford University law professor
“?Kimberly McLane Wardlaw: federal appeals court judge in California, and would be the first Hispanic woman on the Supreme Court.”
Isn’t Sonia Sotomayor already the first Hispanic woman on the Supreme Court? Not that I’m against having another, but just for the record.
It isn’t too soon to start leaning on Obama with our demand for parity in the supreme court. Of course there is a line of good old boys who have been eying the potential vacancies for years and they will feel that Sotomayor has filled the token woman seat for the next 40 years. We need to make a lot of noise and let them know the days of tokenism are over as far as we are concerned.
Anna,
she would be the first Mexican American. Mexican Americans are 65-70% of Latinos, and yet have much less representation. Sonia Sotomayor is Puerto Rican, who represent 14% of Latino population (second largest after Mexican Americans).
And yes, SS is the first Latina in the Supreme court. Still, I agree with you, I would love any of these women listed to get the spot, including Kimberly McLane WardLaw.
According to what I researched, she is the first Latina appointed to a United States Court of Appeals.
My vote (if we are voting) goes to Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm.
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The New Agenda is a 501(c)(4) organization dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls by bringing about systemic change in the media, at the workplace, at school and at home. More...