Justice David Souter will step down at the end of the Supreme Court’s term this June.
This gives President Obama a chance to right a wrong.
According to the ABA, in 2007, women accounted for:
- 30.1% of the Nation’s 1,143,358 lawyers;
- 46.9% of the Nation’s 141,031 law students;
- 162 of the Nation’s 675 U.S. District Court Judges;
- 42 of the Nation’s 167 Circuit Court Judges;
- 106 of the Nation’s 349 State Supreme Court Judges.
In Connecticut, our Chief Justice, Chase T. Rogers is a woman and women comprise 3 of the 7 seats on the Connecticut Supreme Court.
There is no shortage of talented women in the legal profession.
Yet in 2009, only 1 woman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg serves on the Nation’s highest Court.
There have been 110 Justices in the history of the Supreme Court and only 2 have been women. Said another way, women have comprised only 1.9% of Court’s total membership.
The present gender imbalance on the Court is shameful. We can do better.