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2012 Mich. St. L. Rev. 1499 (2012)
Choosing Judges: A Bumpy Road to Women's Equality and a Long Way to Go

handle is hein.journals/mslr2012 and id is 1555 raw text is: CHOOSING JUDGES: A BUMPY ROAD TO WOMEN'S EQUALITY AND A LONG WAY TO GO Sally J. Kenney 2012 MICH. ST. L. REv. 1499 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION: KEY CONCEPTS ..............................1500 I. How JUDGES ARE SELECTED: A NON-MERIT SYSTEM THAT FAVORS MEN ..........................................1509 II. PRESIDENT CARTER PUTS GENDER ON THE AGENDA ............1512 III. FEMINISTS WORKING INSIDE AND OUT: THE WORK OF OUTSIDERS .................................... .......1513 IV. COMPARING PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS.............................1516 V. WOMEN ON STATE COURTS ...............................1517 VI. DO WOMEN JUDGE IN A DIFFERENT VOICE? .................1523 Why do so few women serve as judges? Why has the torrent of wom- en's entry into the legal profession not produced a pipeline to power for women in the judicial branch of government? What will it take to move women from minority to parity? Answering these questions provides an excellent vehicle for exploring concepts in gender theory such as the myth that women have already achieved equality or are making great progress, the qualified labor pool, disparate impact, the pipeline, the pyramid, token- ism, backlash, and the difference women make-all of which are important to understand the underrepresentation of women more generally. Judge- ships, like executive offices, may be more difficult for women to attain, as voters may be more comfortable including a woman in legislative delibera- tions of a group rather than making her commander-in-chief. The exercise of judicial power is enmeshed in powerful cultural norms of masculinity. It is no accident that women's exclusion from juries was one of the last sex- based classifications the U.S. Supreme Court declared to be unconstitution- al. In the summers of 2009 and 2010, the nominations and confirmations of U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan rekin- dled public discussion about the gender and ethnic identities of judges and senators. In their opening statements at Sotomayor's confirmation hearings, for example, senators burst with pride about a great country where anyone can achieve anything, regardless of gender, class, ethnicity, or national origin, while some equated empathy with prejudice and difference with par-