Justice at Last? A Black Female Supreme Considered For SCOTUS Finally
The U.S. Supreme Court is set to include a Black female justice for the first time in history.
She will be Black, female and serving on the highest court in the land; the first time in its 232-year history. Coincidentally, the U.S. Supreme Court justice nomination will be official at the end of February, Black History Month. It fulfills a 2019 campaign promise by President Joe Biden.
“The U.S. Supreme Court is set to include a Black female justice for the first time in history. Coincidentally, the #nomination will be official at the end of February, #BlackHistoryMonth and fulfills a 2019 campaign promise by @POTUS. #SCOTUS ”
Unprecedented in U.S. history, a president has promised to deliver to SCOTUS a Black female justice. Replacing the retiring Justice Stephen Bryer, 83, who has been a SCOTUS justice since 1994, the newly confirmed Justice would offer a fresh perspective to the court, adding to the roster of three other females.
Sonia Sotomayor, the only woman of color ever to serve on the bench, Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett comprise the SCOTUS gender minority.
It’s about time for a Black female justice, though there is division about the group of candidates politically and among citizens around the country.
According to an ABC News poll, 76% of Americans want Biden to consider "all possible nominees." Almost a quarter, or 23%, “want him to automatically follow through on his history-making commitment that the White House seems keen on seeing through. At a ceremony honoring the retiring justice, Biden told reporters he is able to honor his promise without compromising on quality.”
More than a dozen of the top barristers in the country who are Black and female have been named as possible candidates at a time when Black women are disgracefully underrepresented in the legal profession.
“More than a dozen of the top barristers in the country who are Black and female have been named as possible candidates at a time when #Blackwomen are disgracefully underrepresented in the legal profession. #Blacklawyers #SCOTUS ”
But the intention to be inclusive is receiving intense backlash in Congress.
USA Today reports, "The idea that race just started to be an issue when Joe Biden said 'I'm going to appoint a Black woman to the court' is nonsense," said Niambi Carter, a political scientist at Howard University, noting the overwhelming number of white, male justices who have filled the court's bench throughout its history. "It's always been a racial institution."
Read more in Take The Lead on Sonia Sotomayor
“According to the National Association for Law Placement, Black women made up 3.17% of associates at America’s law firms in 2021 but less than 1% of partners. Women of color overall made up nearly 16% of associates at America’s law firms but only about 4% of the partners. And across the federal bench, Black women hold 45 of the 850 lifetime appointments to district and appeals judgeships — or about 5%, according to government data, repost the San Jose Mercury News.
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In her 2019 book, You Don't Look Like a Lawyer: Black Women and Systemic Gendered Racism, author Tsedale M. Melaku writes, “Black women occupy a unique space at the epicenter of dueling tantrums and fearful outbreaks related to race and gender in what some identify as America’s culture wars.”
Tsedale reports that the odds are stacked against Black female lawyers for multiple reasons including white racial framing, a lack of networks to navigate, white narratives of affirmative action, invisible labor and exclusion from networks to advance.
“@TsedaleMelaku reports that the odds are stacked against Black female lawyers for multiple reasons including white racial framing, a lack of and exclusion from networks to navigate and advance, white narratives of affirmative action, and invisible labor. #SCOTUS #femalelawyer”
In a 2019 Harvard Business Review piece, Tsedale elaborates on the labor of invisibility. “This includes the need to work longer or harder to get noticed and the pressure to be flawless, because the stereotypical assumption of incompetence leaves little to no margin for error. The research of numerous scholars, including David B. Wilkins and G. Mitu Gulati, Catherine H. Tinsley and Robin J. Ely, and Heather Sarsons, reveals that women and people of color tend to be significantly penalized for marginal errors, as compared with white men. In Ashleigh Shelby Rosette and Robert Livingston’s study, black women leaders in particular were punished more harshly than their white counterparts for making a mistake.”
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Tsedale also adds in the HBR piece, “As confirmed by a recent report from the National Association for Law Placement and a recent survey of diversity at 232 law firms by Vault and the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, women of color and black women specifically continue to be significantly underrepresented, making up 8.57% and 1.73% of all attorneys, respectively. Law firms are overwhelming white and male despite efforts to recruit people of color from prestigious academic institutions. These candidates often go on to find their ambitions stunted by the unwelcoming landscape of corporate America.”
Read more in Take The Lead on Center for Women in Law
In the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Commission on Women in the Profession 2020 study, “Left Out and Left Behind: The Hurdles, Hassles, and Heartaches of Achieving Long-Term Legal Careers for Women of Color, researchers intended to study the experiences of women of color attorneys who had practiced for more than 20 years. In the ABA’s sample, 70% of the women reported leaving or considering leaving the legal profession. Participants pointed to reasons including feeling undervalued and/or facing barriers to career advancement, and expectations that interfered with their ability to manage their personal and professional responsibilities,“ reports 2Civility.
This history-making move will give the group of justices someone with a distinctly different group of life experiences, as viewed through a gender and race lens.
“This history-making move will give the group of justices someone with a distinctly different group of life experiences, as viewed through a gender and race lens. #SCOTUS #BlackHistoryMonth ”
Judge Bernice B. Donald, 70, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, tells the Washington Post, “In my lifetime, I have had the privilege of witnessing many firsts, all of which my grandparents would say they never thought would see the day. I have witnessed the first Black president and the first Black woman vice president. Although those firsts were very inspiring and influential for me, I believe witnessing the first Black woman to sit on the United States Supreme Court will be the most impactful.”
Gail Collins, New York Times columnist agrees and writes recently, “We’ve only had two Black justices, and five women, in American history. There’s a lot of territory to make up for.”
As for the roster of possible candidates, CNN reports many agree the top pick is Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
“As for the roster of possible candidates, @CNN reports many agree the top pick is Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. #SCOTUSpick #nominee”
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Other top considerations are Leondra Kruger, 45, “the youngest person to be appointed to the California Supreme Court when then-Gov. Jerry Brown nominated her in 2014.”
Judge J. Michelle Childs, nominated by President Barack Obama to the U.S. District Court, is a “judge on South Carolina's federal court.”
Sherrilyn Ifill, (cousin of the late Gwen Ifill, a journalistic icon) is “a civil rights attorney who recently announced plans to step down from her role as President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.”
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“Anita Earls, is a North Carolina Supreme Court associate justice. District Judge Wilhelmina "Mimi" Wright, is a judge on Minnesota's federal district court.
Circuit Judge Eunice Lee, is a former New York public defender. Circuit Judge Candace Jackson-Akiwumi, is a former Chicago public defender. Circuit Judge Holly A. Thomas was confirmed last week to the Ninth Circuit.”
CNN reports, “Federal Circuit Court Judge Tiffany P. Cunningham, a former patent attorney in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office became the first Black judge on the federal circuit when the Senate confirmed her last year.”
Additionally, “Arianna J. Freeman, a Philadelphia public defender who was nominated earlier this month to be a circuit judge, and if confirmed, would be the first woman of color and first Black woman to serve on the 3rd Circuit.”
Other candidates are Prof. Melissa Murray of the New York University School of Law and “Nancy G. Abudu, a voting rights expert and the head of strategic litigation for the Southern Poverty Law Center who was nominated earlier this month to be a circuit judge for the 11th Circuit,” according to CNN.
Read more in Take The Lead on women lawyer leaders
In its weekly roundup, Ms Magazine reports that Erin Loos Cutraro, CEO of She Should Run, writes: “Women make up more than half of our population yet hold just 30% of all public offices. For certain demographics, the numbers are even worse. Black women remain severely underrepresented as officeholders at the statewide executive level, holding just 1.9% of these positions.”
Cutraro continues, “This very obvious inequality is present even within the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. Of the 115 Supreme Court justices in U.S. history, 108 have been White men. Only five women have served since the Supreme Court was established in 1789. As our highest level of government overseeing the increasingly critical issues we face today, the need for more representation is crucial.”
““Only five women have served since the Supreme Court was established in 1789. As our highest level of government overseeing the increasingly critical issues we face today, the need for more representation is crucial.” — @Erinlooscutraro, CEO of @SheShouldRun for @MsMagazine. #SCOTUS ”
