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31 Nova L. Rev. 237 (2006-2007)
The Embodiment of Equal Justice under the Law

handle is hein.journals/novalr31 and id is 243 raw text is: THE EMBODIMENT OF EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER THE LAW ANITA F. HILL* I. IN TROD UCTION ............................................................................... 237 II. JUST How WILL WOMEN JUDGES MAKE A DIFFERENCE? ............ 245 III. JUSTICE O'CONNOR AND THE INCLUSIVE COURT .......................... 251 IV. JUDGE CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY: EMBRACING RACE AND G EN D ER .......................................................................................... 255 V . C ON CLU SION .................................................................................. 257 I. INTRODUCTION In 1991, when I testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, there were two women in the United States Senate.' Nationwide, as of 1997, 19% of seated federal judges were women.2 Though the laws protecting against sexual harassment had been in place since the 1970s,3 a woman's chance of winning a sexual har- assment lawsuit was a longshot. The United States Supreme Court had heard only one such case.4 In the United States, women earned about seventy cents for each dollar a man earned.' On October 15, 1991, Judge Thomas was confirmed as a justice to the nation's highest court.6 Momentum from the hearings indicated that the is- sues I raised during the hearing were only of passing interest.7 Observers were equally certain that no woman would come forward with a sexual har- * Professor of Law, Social Policy, and Women's Studies, Brandeis University, Heller School of Policy and Management. 1. U.S. Senate, Art & History-Historical Minutes, Year of the Woman (Jan. 3, 1993), http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/year-of the woman.htm. 2. ABA, FACTS ABOUT WOMEN AND THE LAW 1 (1998), http://www.abanet.org/media/factbooks/womenlaw.pdf. 3. Civil Rights Act of 1964, Pub. L. No. 88-352, 78 Stat. 241, 253-66 (1965). 4. See Meritor Sav. Bank, FSB v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57 (1986). 5. Women's Earnings as a Percentage of Men's, 1951-2005, Infoplease.com, http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A093820.html (last visited Apr. 14, 2007). 6. Senate Confirms Thomas, 52-48, Ending Week of Bitter Battle: 'Time for Healing,' Judge Says, N.Y. TIMES, Oct. 16, 1991, at Al. 7. Julia Lawlor, Thomas Battle Leaves Doubts in Workplace, USA TODAY, Oct. 16, 1991, at B1.