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Monday, January 29, 2007

Court - Only woman on U.S. Supreme Court fears the message now is that a woman justice is a "one-at-a-time curiosity, not the normal thing."

Joan Biskupic of USA Today reports on her interview with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Some quotes:

WASHINGTON — It's been a year since Sandra Day O'Connor retired from the Supreme Court after a quarter-century tenure and left Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the lone woman on the nine-member court. Although it's unclear how O'Connor's departure will affect the law, this much is certain: Ginsburg misses her friend, and worries about the message court visitors get when they see only one woman on the bench. * * *

For now, O'Connor's absence is more symbolic. In court, the sight of Ginsburg — a slight figure in a tall, black leather chair, flanked by eight men — contrasts with the rising prominence of women in Congress. The number of female judges also is rising: Of the 875 federal judges, 201 are women.

Ginsburg is encouraged by such numbers, but disconcerted by the look of her own court. She said with O'Connor, the message was: "Here are two women. They don't look alike. They don't always vote alike. But here are two women." The former women's rights lawyer fears the message now is that a woman justice is a "one-at-a-time curiosity, not the normal thing."

And of course Indiana has had a woman on its Supreme Court only once, for a brief time, nearly a decade ago.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 29, 2007 01:07 PM
Posted to Courts in general