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The “Fairer Sex” Imperative for Sound Supreme Court

By Amy Siskind on May 2, 2009 at 1:15 AM in Souter Vacancy, Supreme Court, Women

(Bumped up from Friday afternoon.)

The New Agenda calls on President Obama to select a woman to fill Justice Souter’s seat

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The New Agenda, a non-partisan national movement advocating for all women, called on President Obama to fill the seat that will be vacated by Justice Souter with a qualified woman. Currently only one of nine positions on the nation’s highest court is a woman.

“Women’s experiences, expectations, and lives are sufficiently different from men’s that men can not represent women no matter how sympathetic they may be,” said Nancy Hopkins, MIT biology professor – a leader in her field and New Agenda co-founder. “Women are best represented by women. The fact that only one of nine Supreme Court Justices is a woman is an enormous injustice to the women of the United States.

We expect – we demand – that President Obama begin to correct this injustice.”

Last week Hopkins was awarded one of Women’s eNews 2009 21 Leaders for the 21st Century – a distinction shared with Lily Ledbetter. Hopkins knows what it’s like to be in a field dominated by men who are highly educated and smart, but often clueless about gender. Hopkins was in the audience when Larry Summers famously stated that girls are genetically inferior to men when it comes to math and science – a statement Hopkins’ life and career strongly refutes.

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.”

“There is an amazing pool of incredibly talented women who are leaders in the field of law,” said The New Agenda co-founder 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.
  • Sonia Sototomayor: 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
  • 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