There is an article in the July 2010 in the ABA journal discussing women on the judiciary, well specifically state supreme courts. Some highlights of interest:
- 20 States across the nation have a woman as the Chief Justice:
- Washington
- Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee,Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin
- Women make-up over 40% of the state high courts in 19 states:
- Washington
- California, Colorado, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin
- Women compose 26 percent of state judiciaries, compared with 22 percent of federal judiciaries.
- Women now make up 48% of law school graduates and 45 percent of law firm associates.
The increase of women in important positions does not guarantee greater justice – the Phyllis Schafleys of the world should make us all aware that sometimes women are actually the worst enemies of gendered justice. That being said, not having women on the courts does guarantee inequity. Even if men and women voted exactly the same way on every single issue, it would still create inequity because of the appearance of bias that exists when the court does not refelct the population it serves (this includes gender, racial, ethnic, etc., but my focus at the moment is on gender). There is a concept about trial and judges and their communications with attorneys or their pasts, and judges are not supposed to engage in behavior that is or could be perceived as prejudicial.
But the reality is that women don’t vote the way they might be expected to vote, if they were men. Sandra Day O’Connor is a prime example. She sort of straddled the line on the abortion issue, but she believed/s in the health of the woman exception and essentially in some access to abortion. I suspect this had a lot to do with being a woman. Please don’t mistake this as meaning every women supports safe and legal access to abortion, this would absolutely not be true. But I do think that women have a much better ability to experience empathy for the impact children have on the lives of women. Given our rape culture and the reality that women often feel lucky they haven’t been raped or experienced some sexual assault when they haven’t and the unacceptable number of women who have been, the protection of a rape exception seems like it would be a deeply held value for many women. And while men might also have similar convictions, it’s still a different.
It’s true for all sorts of things too. Looking at Sandra Day O’Connor again, she was one of the few justices from a Western state (she grew up in Arizona). Legal scholars argue that this gave her a different perspective and voice when it came to issues of water rights because our relationship to water in the west is different than those on the east coast. For example, I remember when I went to college, a fellow Pacific North westerner posted a sign “When it’s yellow, let it mellow. When it’s brown flush it down.” This grossed out my classmates. They’d never heard this expression and thought she was off her rocker. But being from this area, where are lawns turn brown in the summer because water is scarce and regulated, this was not unusual to me.
My point is just that experience impacts our understanding of the world. There are gendered experiences and knowledge. Thus, when our courts look nothing like us, there is a sense that we will not be seen and understood when we are before the court.
Although, I will concede that it may make little difference to most people, after all this is the highest appellate court in the state (and for many of the claims it’s the highest court available), so a vast majority of people will never see this court, and I have a sneaking suspicion most people have very little idea of who composes the state supreme court. Since I’m a Washingtonian I will just add that our court has the following members (although elections are on us, so Jim Johnson and Barbara Madsen could change): Chief Justice Barbara Madsen, Associate Chief Justice Charles W. Johnson, Justice Gerry L. Alexander,, Justice Richard B. Sanders, Justice Tom Chambers, Justice Susan Owens, Justice Mary E. Fairhurst, Justice James M. Johnson, and Justice Debra L. Stephens
