1 “For the second time in a year, a childless, unmarried woman in her 50s has been nominated to be a justice on the Supreme Court and the critics have come out swinging.” Laura M. Holson, “Then Comes the Marriage Question,” New York Times, May 16, 2010.
2 Ann Gerhart, “The Supreme Court Needs More Mothers,” Washington Post, May 16, 2010.
3 “Solicitor General Kagan decided to wear the same outfit that then-Judge Sonia Sotomayor wore to day one of her confirmation hearings: an electric blue blazer over a black blouse.” David Lat, “Elena Kagan v. Sonia Sotomayor: Who Wore it Better?,” Above the Law, June 28, 2010, www
4 Peter Beinert, “Put a Mom on the Court,” Daily Beast, April 25, 2010, www
5 Paul Campos, “Fat Judge Need Not Apply,” Daily Beast, May 4, 2009, www
6 Brenner and Knake, “Rethinking Gender Equality in the Legal Profession’s Pipeline to Power,” 364–75.
1 “Potential High Court Nominees,” New York Times, October 14, 1971.
2 Barbara B. Martin, “Sketch of Judge Lillie,” New York Times, October 23, 1971.
3 Bradwell v. Illinois, 83 U.S. 130, 141 (1873).
4 Dean, The Rehnquist Choice, 155.
5 Destiny Peery, 2018 NAWL Survey on Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms (Chicago: National Association of Women Lawyers, 2018), 1.
6 Ibid., 5. Other studies reach a similar conclusion. For example, Julie Triedman reports that “the absolute number of women non-equity partners reported by The Am Law 200 surged by 9.5 percent between 2011 and 2014, while the number of female equity partners remained flat,” and that “in 2014, 26 percent of non-equity partners were female, compared with 16.8 percent in the equity tier.” Julie Triedman, “A Few Good Women,” American Lawyer (June 2015), 41.
7 Peery, 2018 NAWL Survey, 5.
8 American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession, “A Current Glance at Women in the Law” (Chicago: American Bar Association, 2018), 3, www
9 Ibid., 4; Padilla, “Women Law Deans, Gender Sidelining and Presumptions of Incompetence.” Women of color make up a smaller percentage of law deans (less than eight percent at ABA-accredited law schools).
10 Of 5,398 tenured faculty members in 2013, only 1,766 were women. American Bar Association, “Data from the 2013 Annual Questionnaire, ABA Approved Law School Staff and Faculty Members, Gender and Ethnicity: Fall 2013” (Chicago: American Bar Association, 2013), www
11 “2012–2013 Law Review Diversity Report,” 3. “In 2012–2013, women continued to lag behind their male counterparts in the Top 50 Sample, as women held 46% of leadership positions, and only 38% of EIC positions.” Ibid. The number does reflect parity, however, when considering all law schools in the United States. Ibid.
12 Center for American Women in Politics, Women in Elective Office, 2018, www
13 Horne, Capitol Research. As of 2018, only six states had female governors and in twenty-three states no woman had ever held the position. Center for American Women in Politics, Women in Elective Office, 2018, www
14 Center for American Women in Politics, Women in Elective Office, 2018, www
15 Horne, Capitol Research, 1. “A 2014 survey found that 5,049 women were serving as state court judges, representing 29 percent of the total 17,156 positions.… Currently, 120 women serve on a state final appellate jurisdiction court (Supreme Court or equivalent).” Ibid.
16 “Gender Diversity Survey,” The American Bench: Judges of the Nation, ed. Amanda Long (Frisco, TX: Forster Long, 2015), 25. The states with a majority of women serving on the highest court are Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Washington, and Wisconsin. Idaho, Iowa, and Maryland had no women on any of the states’ highest appellate court in 2015. Ibid.
17 Tony Mauro, “Supreme Court Specialists, Mostly Male, Dominated Arguments This Term,” Supreme Court Brief, May 11, 2016.
18 Although the first woman was elected to the Ohio Supreme Court in 1922, followed by a second woman elected to the Arizona Supreme Court in 1960, it was not until 2003 that a Latina became the chief justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court and not until 2005 that the first African American woman “preside[d] over a state court of last resort.” Carroll, “Women in State Government,” 442–43. For a comprehensive analysis addressing why “blacks have had little success breaking into the upper echelons of the elite bar,” see Wilkins and Gulati, “Why Are There So Few Black Lawyers in Corporate Law Firms?,” 497. In addition, the median salaries for black lawyers are generally lower than those of other groups. Ronit Dinovitzer et al., After the JD: First Results of a National Study on Legal Careers (Overland Park, KS: NALP Foundation for Law Career Research and Education and the American Bar Foundation, 2004), 64. The ABA Commission on Women in the Profession provides specific strategies for law firms and lawyers to improve diversity based on research conducted with twenty-eight women of color partners in national law firms. Arin N. Reeves, “From Visibly Invisible to Visibly Successful: Success Strategies for Law Firms and Women of Color in Law Firms” (Chicago: American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession, 2008). Additionally, the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession identifies specific barriers and obstacles facing women of color lawyers. “Among all employers listed in the 2015–2016 NALP Directory of Legal Employers, just 7.52% of partners were minorities and 2.55% of partners were minority women;” “almost one in five offices reported no minority partners and almost 47% reported no minority women partners.” ABA Commission on Women in the Profession, Visible Invisibility: Women of Color in Law Firms (Chicago: American Bar Association, 2006); “Women and Minorities at Law Firms by Race and Ethnicity—New Findings for 2015,” NALP Bulletin (January 2016), www
19 “Studies on presidents’ nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court have traditionally focused on those individuals officially nominated and most often confirmed to seats on the Court.” Nemacheck, Strategic Selection, 13.
20 “In short, the pipeline leaks, and if we wait for the time to correct the problem, we will be waiting a very long time.” Rhode, “The Difference ‘Difference’ Makes,” 7.
21 Meghan Tribe, “Mansfield Rule 2.0 Aims to Boost Diversity Efforts,” American Lawyer, June 22, 2018.
22 “41 Law Firms Announced as Mansfield Rule Certified: ‘Mansfield Rule’—the Next Generation of the Rooney Rule—Certifies that Law Firms Consider at Least 30% Diverse Lawyers for all Governance and Leadership Roles,” Diversity Lab, August 20, 2018.
23 Elizabeth Olson, “New Paper Finds Fuzzy Definitions for Board Diversity,” New York Times, October 20, 2014, https://
24 Root, “Combating Silence in the Profession,” 809.
25 Hayes, Without Precedent; Tuve, First Lady of the Law. Only two of the shortlisted women in this study are the subject of biographies: Susie Sharp and Florence Allen. Others have been the focus of academic articles or given interviews for oral histories. But some have had little written about them other than passing mentions in news articles. None have been considered collectively, as we do here.
1 Myra Bradwell, “Admission of Women to the Bar,” Chicago Legal News, February 15, 1879.
2 We note this authorship mindful of the critique that early feminists primarily emphasized the plight of white women, often at the expense of rights for other minorities. This is also why we do not assume that using the word “feminism” necessarily includes a concern for all women’s rights.
3 Declaration of Sentiments, Seneca Falls, New York, 1848.
4 Brent Staples, “How the Suffrage Movement Betrayed Black Women,” New York Times, July 28, 2018.
5 Bradwell v. Illinois, 83 U.S. 130, 142 (1873).
6 Kaiser v. Stickney, 102 U.S. 176 (1880).
7 United States v. Cherokee Nation, 202 U.S. 101 (1906).
8 Collins, When Everything Changed, 79.
9 Ibid.
10 Hope B. Daus, “Equal Representation: A Study of Gendered Voting Patterns on the ERA, FMLA, and VAWA,” University of Houston Law Center, November 30, 2018 (unpublished paper).
11 Illinois House of Representatives Congressional Record debate on the Equal Rights Amendment, May 30, 2018 (unpublished audio record).
12 Ibid.
13 Some argue the ERA had to be ratified within seven years because of language Congress included when the amendment was first proposed; others argue that a prior Congress cannot bind a future Congress from extending or eliminating the time limit.
14 Betty Friedan famously wrote about these issues, which characterized the second wave of feminism. Friedan, The Feminine Mystique.
15 Several of those same women commemorated the event at the University of Houston in 2017, including Gloria Steinem.
16 Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57 (1986) (holding that a plaintiff could prove violations of Title VII “by proving that discrimination based on sex has created a hostile or abusive working environment”).
17 “From Anita Hill to Capitol Hill: A Flurry of Fresh Female Faces Vindicates ‘The Year of the Woman,’” Time, November 16, 1992.
18 Ibid.
19 Jon Blistein, “Watch Carly Fiorina Respond to Trump’s ‘Look at That Face’ Insult,” Rolling Stone, September 10, 2015 (“Trump saw Fiorina on TV and remarked ‘Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?! I mean, she’s a woman, and I’m not s’posedta say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?’”).
20 Alastair Jamieson, “2016 Presidential Debate: Trump Accused of ‘Stalking’ Clinton on Stage,” NBC News, October 10, 2016.
21 “Transcript: Donald Trump’s Taped Comments About Women,” New York Times, October 8, 2016.
22 Philip Rucker, “Trump Says Fox’s Megyn Kelly Had ‘Blood Coming Out of Her Wherever,’” Washington Post, August 8, 2015.
23 Alex Wayne, “Trump Insults ABC Reporter, Saying She ‘Never’ Thinks,” Bloomberg, October 1, 2018.
24 Martha S. Jones, “When Black Women Journalists Fight Back,” Washington Post, November 12, 2018.
25 Jeva Lange, “61 Things Donald Trump Has Said About Women,” The Week, October 16, 2018, https://
26 Matt Broomfield, “Women’s March Against Donald Trump is the Largest Day of Protests in US History, Say Political Scientists,” Independent, January 23, 2017.
27 Nadja Sayej, “Alyssa Milano on the #MeToo Movement: ‘We’re Not Going to Stand for It Any More,’” Guardian, December 1, 2017.
28 Connie Chung, “Dear Christine Blasey Ford: I, Too, Was Sexually Assaulted–and It’s Seared Into My Memory Forever,” Washington Post, October 3, 2018.
29 “How Saying #MeToo Changed Their Lives,” New York Times, June 28, 2018.
30 Audrey Carlsen et al., “#MeToo Brought Down 201 Powerful Men. Nearly Half of Their Replacements Are Women.,” New York Times, October 29, 2018.
31 “If there is not the intentional and action-based inclusion of women of color, then feminism is simply white supremacy in heels … Racism is as American as pie. In order for the feminist movement to truly be progressive and intersectional, white women must face this fact and begin to take on their load of work.” Rachel Elizabeth Cargle, “When Feminism Is White Supremacy in Heels,” Harper’s Bazaar, August 16, 2018.
32 Adichie, We Should All Be Feminists, 48.
33 Gillian Tan and Katia Porzencanski, “Wall Street Rule for the #MeToo Era: Avoid Women at All Costs,” Bloomberg Business, December 3, 2018.
1 Allen, To Do Justly, 150.
2 “Few know that [Florence Allen], not Sandra Day O’Connor, could have been, and arguably should have been, the first woman to become a Supreme Court Justice.” Organ, “Sexuality as a Category of Historical Analysis,” 6. Cook, “Florence Ellinwood Allen,” 11–13.
3 Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, Presidential Papers—Subject File, Judiciary—Supreme Court of the U.S., Notes.
4 Ibid. It is unclear whether the application was filled out by Allen herself, or by someone in Hoover’s administration.
5 Perry, A “Representative” Supreme Court?, 113.
6 Tuve, First Lady of the Law, 110.
7 “A Woman on the Supreme Bench?,” Christian Science Monitor, March 12, 1930.
8 E. L. Kenyon, Letter to President Calvin Coolidge on December 27, 1924. Letter held in the National Archives.
9 Ibid.
10 “Women Candidates for Harlan’s Seat on Supreme Bench,” Day Book, February 12, 1913, Library of Congress.
11 Ibid.
12 Allen, To Do Justly; Tuve, First Lady of the Law.
13 Allen, To Do Justly, 9.
14 Ibid., 21.
15 Ibid., 24.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid., 28.
18 Allen’s own biography is silent on the issue of opportunities in New York being foreclosed to her, but other sources suggest this to be the case. www
19 Tuve, First Lady of the Law, 40.
20 Ibid.
21 Ibid., 27.
22 Ibid., 32.
23 Ibid., 37.
24 Allen, To Do Justly, 38.
25 Ibid., 43.
26 Ibid., 68.
27 “2000 Nominate Woman Judge,” New York Times, September 4, 1920.
28 Allen, To Do Justly, 65.
29 “Ohio Woman Judge Was News Writer,” Washington Post, November 11, 1922.
30 Allen, To Do Justly, 48. “One could see here the influence of the women voters. The women’s interest was keenly aroused because for the first time they were serving on the jury and also because they saw a member of their sex sitting on the bench. They had elected me and in a way that made them feel a special ownership in the Court of Common Pleas. This is a real reason for having competent and upright women serve as judges. When women of intelligence recognize their share in and their responsibility for the courts, a powerful moral backing is secured for the administration of justice.” Ibid.
31 “The Trend of Events,” Herald of Gospel Liberty, May 3, 1923, 115, 118.
32 We use the term “first lady” to refer to the women married to United States presidents because of its widely accepted use. However, we recognize that the term “lady” is a somewhat sexist and gendered term.
33 Roosevelt, “What Ten Million Women Want,” Home Magazine, 5 (March 1932).
34 “The Trend of Events,” 115.
35 Ibid.
36 Ibid., 116.
37 Pierce took a sabbatical in order to accompany her to Chattanooga for the infamous Tennessee Valley Authority hearing.
38 Cook, “Women as Supreme Court Candidates,” 323–25.
39 Cook, “The First Woman Candidate for the Supreme Court,” 22.
40 Allen, To Do Justly, 112, 115, 122.
41 One such case was Tennessee Valley Authority v. Tennessee Electric Power Company, 21 F. Supp. 947 (6th Cir. 1938).
42 Marshall, “Judge Allen,” 5.
43 “Memorandum in Re Supreme Court,” August 3, 1937. PSF: Supreme Court File, Box 165, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library.
44 Turner Catledge, “A New Deal Foe: Conservative Writes to President He Will Quit June 2, End of Term,” New York Times, May 19, 1937.
45 Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944).
46 Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965).
47 In a twist of irony, years earlier Justice Sutherland had actually campaigned on the same ticket as Florence Allen’s father for Congress in Utah. Allen, To Do Justly, 111.
48 Ibid., 110.
49 Cook, “The First Woman Candidate for the Supreme Court,” 19–35.
50 Eleanor Roosevelt, My Day, November 17, 1948.
51 Florence Ellinwood Allen Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio [Container 6, Folder 6] MS 3287. One of the letters written by Allen was intended to clear up an untrue news report that she had failed to pay income tax while on the bench. Her tone was deeply apologetic; Eleanor Roosevelt’s reply was brief and indicated that she had shared the letter with the president. Another of Allen’s letters had more of an embarrassing tone; she acknowledged that several women’s groups had selected her as their first choice for president of the United States, but she was unable to give a full public response to the media because of her role as a judge.
52 Tuve, First Lady of the Law, 126.
53 Edwards, “Oral History Interview with India Edwards,” interview by Jerry N. Hess, 84.
54 Goldman, Picking Federal Judges, 93.
55 A recess appointment occurs when the Senate is not in session. This constitutional provision, enumerated in the Appointments Clause, requires that the appointment must be confirmed by the end of the next Congressional session.
56 Bert Wissman, “President Nominates Woman, Two Men for District Bench: First of Her Sex to Be Appointed,” undated article, Harry Truman Presidential Library.
57 Linda Greenhouse, “Burnita S. Matthews Dies at 93; First Woman on U.S. Trial Courts,” New York Times, April 28, 1988.
58 Yalof, Pursuit of Justices, 215, citing “Memorandum on ‘Supreme Court Judgeships,’” July 23, 1945, Supreme Court folder, Clark papers, Harry Truman Presidential Library.
59 Edwards, “Oral History Interview with India Edwards,” interview by Jerry N. Hess, 84.
60 Ibid., 85.
61 Ginsburg, “The Supreme Court,” 196.
62 Yalof, Pursuit of Justices, 38.
63 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
64 Goldman, Picking Federal Judges, 124.
65 Ibid., 143.
66 Ibid.
67 Faderman, To Believe in Women, 322.
68 The story on Judge Donlon, “Miss Donlon Wins Gallant Backing,” appeared adjacent to an article entitled “The Fall Fashion Trends From Abroad.” New York Times, July 29, 1955.
69 Cook, “Women as Supreme Court Candidates,” 318.
70 Organ, “Sexuality as a Category of Historical Analysis,” 129.
71 Ibid., 109.
1 Ford, A Time to Heal, 335.
2 Walker, Presidents and Civil Liberties from Wilson to Obama, 237.
3 Ibid., 235.
4 Katzenbach, Some of It was Fun, 37.
5 Belknap, The Supreme Court Under Earl Warren, 1953–1969, 107.
6 Laura Kalman, “A Crony on the Court: ABE FORTAS,” Los Angeles Times, November 18, 1990.
7 Califano Jr., The Triumph & Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson, 208.
8 Lynum v. The State of Illinois, 368 U.S. 908 (1963).
9 Blackmun would go on to author Roe v. Wade in 1973, furthering women’s control over their bodies by finding a constitutional right to privacy for women with respect to the decision to have an abortion. This right was significantly constrained two decades later by Planned Parenthood v. Casey, and, as this book went to press, is becoming an increasingly vulnerable right, with multiple states passing restrictive laws designed to further weaken Roe.
10 Adam Clymer, “Book Says Nixon Considered a Woman for Supreme Court,” New York Times, September 27, 2001.
11 Ibid.
12 Dean, The Rehnquist Choice, 201. “We think it would be very bad, in the event they don’t approve the woman. I’m just saying this, it looks to me like it’s a stacked jury, no women on the jury.” Ibid.
13 John Dean, “Musing on a Belated Visit with California Justice Mildred Lillie,” Verdict, January 9, 2015. John Dean, President Nixon’s general counsel, reflected years later that Lillie was “every bit as qualified as Sandra Day O’Connor.” Ibid.
14 Robert B. Semple, “Court Nominees Termed Nixon’s Stand-By Choices,” New York Times, October 23, 1971.
15 Dean, The Rehnquist Choice, 193.
16 Fred P. Graham, “Nixon Ends Prior Checks with Bar on Nominations,” New York Times, October 21, 1971. President Reagan later ignored the ABA entirely when he nominated Sandra Day O’Connor.
17 Eileen Shanahan, “President Bypasses Women for Court; Talent Pool Small,” New York Times, October 21, 1971.
18 James Warren, “Rehnquist Far From Nixon’s Favorite Choice for Court,” Chicago Tribune, December 24, 2000.
19 Ibid.
20 Dorothy McCardle, “GOP Women: Resigned,” Washington Post, October 22, 1971.
21 Shanahan, “President Bypasses Women for Court.”
22 Nixon, “Remarks at the Convention of the National Federation of Republican Women,” The Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, October 22, 1971.
23 Eileen Shanahan, “Women Seek a Bigger Role in Phase 2,” New York Times, October 25, 1971.
24 McCardle, “GOP Women.”
25 Ibid.
26 Shanahan, “President Bypasses Women for Court.”
27 Ibid.
28 Ibid.
29 Dean, The Rehnquist Choice, 155.
30 Ibid.
31 Stout, A Matter of Simple Justice, 41 (citing an interview).
32 Ford, A Time to Heal, 335.
33 Ibid.
34 Letter from Charles Rangel to President Gerald Ford, November 18, 1975, Box 137, File FG 51, Supreme Court of the United States 11/20/75–11/25/75, Gerald R. Ford Library.
35 Letter from Ralph Regula (U.S. Rep. Ohio-R) to President Ford, November 19, 1975, Box 137, File FG 51, Supreme Court of the United States 11/20/75–11/25/75, Gerald R. Ford Library.
36 Ibid.
37 Letter from Vernon C. Loen, Deputy Assistant to President Ford, to Ralph Regula, November 20, 1975, Box 137, File FG 51, Supreme Court of the United States 11/20/75–11/25/75, Gerald R. Ford Library.
38 Letter from President Gerald Ford to Audrey Colom, July 11, 1975, Box 646, File Audrey Rowe Colom, Gerald R. Ford Library.
39 Telegram from Audrey Colom to President Gerald Ford, November 13, 1975, Box 646, File Audrey Rowe Colom, Gerald R. Ford Library.
40 Letter from Audrey Colom to President Gerald Ford, November 14, 1975, Box 646, File Audrey Rowe Colom, Gerald R. Ford Library.
41 Letter from Philip Buchen, Counsel to the President, to Audrey Colom, November 26, 1975, Box 646, File Audrey Rowe Colom, Gerald R. Ford Library.
42 Memo from Pat Lindh to Doug Bennett, November 13, 1975, Box 136, File FG 51, Supreme Court of the United States 8/9/74–11/19/75, Gerald R. Ford Library. The other women listed were: Mary Coleman, Judge, Supreme Court of Michigan; Julia Cooper, Judge, D.C. Court of Appeals; Martha Griffiths, attorney and former congresswoman from Michigan; Rita Hauser, attorney from New York; Margaret Haywood, Judge, Superior Court of D.C.; Shirley Hufstedler, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; Normalie Holloway Johnson, Judge, Superior Court of D.C.; Florence Kelley, Judge, New York City; Elizabeth Kovachevich, Judge, Judicial Circuit Court of Florida; Betty Southard Murphy, Chair of the National Labor Relations Board; Dorothy Nelson, Dean of the Law School, USC; and Harriet Robb, Professor of Law, Columbia.
43 Memo from Pat Lindh to Doug Bennett on Candidates for Supreme Court, November 14, 1975, Box 136, File FG 51, Supreme Court of the United States 8/9/74–11/19/75, Gerald R. Ford Library.
44 Memo from Pat Lindh to President Gerald Ford on the Attorney General’s List of Candidates for the Supreme Court, November 17, 1975, Box 136, File FG 51, Supreme Court of the United States 8/9/74–11/19/75, Gerald R. Ford Library.
45 Ibid.
46 Ibid.
47 Linda Matthews, “Justice Department Gives ABA List of Court Nominees: Acts Quickly to Replace Douglas; Rep. Wiggins, Carla Hills, and Sen. Griffin Reportedly Included,” Los Angeles Times, November 14, 1975.
48 James Kidney, “New Justice,” UPI, Box 48, Sheila Weidenfeld Files, Folder Women—Supreme Court, Gerald R. Ford Library.
49 Letter from Audrey Colom to President Gerald Ford, December 5, 1975, Box 646, File Audrey Rowe Colom, Gerald R. Ford Library.
50 Telegram from Audrey Rowe Colom to President Gerald Ford, December 10, 1975, Box 646, File Audrey Rowe Colom, Gerald R. Ford Library.
51 Letter from Roland L. Elliot, Director of Correspondence, to Audrey Rowe Colom, December 11, 1975, Box 646, File Audrey Rowe Colom, Gerald R. Ford Library.
52 “Betty With Justice,” UPI, November 28, 1975, Box 137, FG 51/A, File Supreme Court of the United States, Gerald R. Ford Library.
53 “Stevens Reaction,” Associated Press, November 28, 1975, Box 137, FG 51/A, File Supreme Court of the United States, Gerald R. Ford Library.
54 “Betty With Justice.”
55 Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973).
56 Safford United School District v. Redding, 557 U.S 634 (2009).
57 George Volsky, “Soia Mentschikoff, Professor and Ex-Law Dean, Dies at 69,” New York Times, June 19, 1984.
58 “University of Miami Names Soia Mentschikoff Law Dean,” Columbia Law School Alumni Association Observer no. 12, 3.
59 Whitman, “Soia Mentschikoff and Karl Llewellyn,” 1126–27.
60 Marion Bussang, “Dates, Clothes and Play Relevant, Not Material,” New York Post, April 22, 1940; Soia Mentschikoff, Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Joseph Regenstein Library, University of Chicago.
61 “The announcement of Soia Mentschikoff’s appointment at the Law School” in the Harvard Alumni Bulletin was titled Non Sub Homine.” Basile, “False Starts,” 149.
62 Whitman, “Soia Mentschikoff and Karl Llewellyn,” 1126–27.
63 Ibid., 1124, 1126.
64 Ibid., 1126–27.
65 C. D. Rogers, “Soia Mentschikoff: The Legend and the Legacy,” Barrister: The University of Miami School of Law Alumni Magazine (May 1981), 3.
66 It should be noted that while Mentschikoff holds the reputation as having been Miami’s first official female dean, that distinction arguably belongs to the late Minette Massey, who served as “acting dean” for three years in the 1960s. Howard Cohen, “First Female Dean at UM Law School, Minnette Massey, Dies at 89,” Miami Herald, November 16, 2016. The “acting” designation has been speculated as being a result of gender discrimination against Massey. Peter Lederer, correspondence to authors, February 5, 2017. We are grateful to Peter Lederer, an adjunct faculty member at the University of Miami School of Law and former research assistant to Karl Llwellyn, for bringing this history to our attention.
67 Ilene Barth, “If a Seat Opens: Will Nixon Choose a Woman for the Supreme Court?,” Lincoln Star, January 7, 1973.
68 Conversation between Richard Nixon and John Mitchell, “Nixon Tapes: Judge Isn’t Frigid ‘B*tch,’” YouTube video, posted by rmm413c, 1:36–1:40, Aug 22, 2008, www
69 Ibid.
70 Lillie, “Justice Mildred L. Lillie,” 119.
71 Ibid., 26.
72 Ibid., 27–28.
73 Ibid., 30. It was in this same professor’s class that Lillie did poorly her first semester. Her uncle, with whom she was very close, passed away and his death had a profound effect on her. In a rather compassionate move, Professor Kidd allowed Lillie to retake her exam in the subsequent semester and she passed the exam with high marks.
74 Memorandum from John Dean and David Young to Attorney General John Mitchell and John Erlichman, October 16, 1971, White House Central Files, Alphabetical Name Files, Lillie, Mildred, Judge [1 of 4], Richard Nixon Presidential Library.
75 Ibid.
76 Ibid. This dynamic of ignoring women endures as documented in a 2017 study showing that female Supreme Court justices are more likely than their male colleagues to be interrupted by other justices and lawyers during oral arguments. Jacobi and Schweers, “Justice, Interrupted.”
77 Letter to President Richard M. Nixon from Burton W. Chance, October 14, 1971, White House Central Files, Alphabetical Name Files, Lillie, Mildred, Judge [1 of 4], Richard Nixon Presidential Library.
78 Memorandum written by John Dean and David Young for Attorney General John Mitchell and John Ehrlichman, October 16, 1971, White House Central Files, Alphabetical Name Files, Lillie, Mildred, Judge [1 of 4], Richard Nixon Presidential Library.
79 Ibid.
80 Ibid.
81 Letter to President Richard M. Nixon from U.C.L.A. law professors, October 19, 1971, White House Central Files, Alphabetical Name Files, Lillie, Mildred, Judge [1 of 4], Richard Nixon Presidential Library.
82 Nemacheck, Strategic Selection, 22.
83 Ibid., 23. The use of the ABA in rating judicial nominees has undergone significant transformation over the past decades. Today, its role is relegated to providing “after the fact” commentary once the nominee’s name is revealed. For an in-depth look at the role of the ABA in judicial appointments, see Hall, “The Role of the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary,” 980–82; Tartt, “The Participation of the Organized Bar in Judicial Selection,” 125–40; Totenberg, “Will Judges be Chosen Rationally?,” 92–99.
84 John Dean, “Richard M. Nixon: Choosing Rehnquist,” interview by Kate Ellis, American Radio Works, American Public Media.
85 Ibid.
86 John Dean, “Musing on a Belated Visit with California Justice Mildred Lillie,” Justia, January 9, 2015, www
87 Dean, The Rehnquist Choice, 111.
88 Letter to the President from Dwight D. Miller, Former Superintendent of the Watertown Public Schools, October 15, 1971, White House Central Files, Alphabetical Name Files, Box 11, Folder Bacon, S. [1 of 2], Richard Nixon Presidential Library.
89 Ibid.
90 Ibid.
91 Dean, The Rehnquist Choice, 111.
92 Wade, “Burnita Shelton Matthews.”
93 John P. MacKenzie, “List for Supreme Court Narrows to Six Names: 4 Judges Include 2 Women,” Washington Post, October 14, 1971.
94 Memorandum from Stephen Hess to Jon Rose, July 29, 1969, White House Central Files, Alphabetical Name Files, Box 11, Folder Bacon, S. [1 of 2], Richard Nixon Presidential Library. (“In connection with our conversation today about the pressure on the Administration to appoint women to high positions, I am attaching the resume of Sylvia Bacon, a highly qualified lawyer, a Republican, and the daughter of a respected South Dakota newspaper publisher, who might be ideal for a District judgeship.”)
95 “Miss Sylvia A. Bacon For Nomination to Federal Judiciary,” White House Central Files, Alphabetical Name Files, Box 11, Folder Bacon, S. [1 of 2], Richard Nixon Presidential Library.
96 Ibid.
97 Privacy of Rape Victims: Hearing on H.R. 14666 and Other Bills Before the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice of the H. Comm. on the Judiciary, 94th Cong. 23, 28 (1976) (statement of J. Sylvia Bacon on behalf of the A.B.A.).
98 “A Gay Rights Victory at Georgetown,” New York Times, April 2, 1988.
99 Elsa Walsh, “D.C. Judge Is Treated for Alcohol Abuse,” Washington Post, July 30, 1986.
100 Ibid.
101 “Potential High Court Nominees,” New York Times, October 14, 1971; Fred P. Graham, “President Asks Bar Unit to Check 6 for High Court,” New York Times, October 14, 1971; “2 Women Are on the List and 4 Men From Border States or the South,” New York Times, October 14, 1971.
102 “Potential High Court Nominees”; MacKenzie, “List for Supreme Court Narrows to Six Names.”
103 Fred P. Graham, “Nixon Reported Unlikely to Pick Woman Justice,” New York Times, September 30, 1971.
104 Letter from Marjorie Longwell to President Richard Nixon, October 19, 1971, Nixon Move 2010 Box SFSM PPF 069, Nominations to Supreme Court File 23, Richard Nixon Presidential Library.
105 Letter to Attorney General John Mitchell from United States Senator Bob Dole, June 15, 1969, White House Central Files, Alphabetical Name Files, Box 11, Folder Bacon, S. [1 of 2], Richard Nixon Presidential Library.
106 Letter from President Richard Nixon to Judge Bacon, December 15, 1971, White House Central Files, Alphabetical Name Files, Box 11, Folder Bacon, S. [1 of 2], Richard Nixon Presidential Library.
107 Letter from John Mitchell to President Richard Nixon, September 18, 1970, White House Central Files, Alphabetical Name Files, Box 11, Folder Bacon, S. [1 of 2], Richard Nixon Presidential Library.
108 Ibid.
109 Memorandum from Douglas P. Bennett to the President re Candidates for the Supreme Court, Box 11, Folder Supreme Court Nomination-Background on Recommended Candidates, Richard B. Cheney Files, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
110 Memorandum listing preliminary Supreme Court candidates, June 15, 1981, Folder Judicial Selection Process, Classified Files of F. Henry “Hank” Habicht, II, 1981–82, Box 2 RG 60 Department of Justice, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
111 Saundra Torry, “Female Lawyers Face Persistent Bias, ABA Told; Delegates to be Asked to Confront and Remedy Discrimination,” Washington Post, August 9, 1981.
112 John Betz, “The Washington Scene: ‘Can Bring Something to Job’- Carla Hills,” Los Angeles Times, March 9, 1975.
113 “Carla Anderson Hills,” Encyclopedia of World Biography (2004).
114 Hills, “Oral History of Carla A. Hills,” interview by Janet McDavid, 2.
115 “Carla Anderson Hills,” Encyclopedia of World Biography (2004).
116 Hills, “Oral History of Carla A. Hills,” interview by Janet McDavid, 5.
117 Marlene Cimons, “An Historic Third: Carla Hills’ Day on the Hill,” Los Angeles Times, March 10, 1975.
118 Hills, “Oral History of Carla A. Hills,” interview by Richard Norton Smith.
119 Ibid.
120 Ibid.
121 William Gildea, “Reflecting on One of Their Own,” Washington Post, March 11, 1975.
122 Ibid.
123 Ibid.
124 “‘A Good Job’: Personalities Prize Chess Honored,” Washington Post, May 7, 1975.
125 Dorothy McCardle, “Who’s King of the Hills?,” Washington Post, October 26, 1975.
126 Louis Uchitelle, “A Crowbar for Carla Hills,” New York Times, June 10, 1990.
127 Ibid.
128 George F. Will, “Who Will ‘Represent’ Quality?,” Washington Post, November 17, 1975.
129 “Carla Hills: She’s Getting Respect,” Washington Post, December 6, 1975.
130 Joseph Kraft, “Mr. Ford’s Choice,” Washington Post, August 8, 1976.
131 “Women Justices?,” Washington Post, December 2, 1970.
132 Derek J. Sarafa, “Michigan Lawyers in History—Judge Cornelia G. Kennedy: First Lady of the Michigan Judiciary,” Michigan Bar Journal 79 (July 2000).
133 Ibid. Judge Schaeffer was elected to the 47th District Court in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
134 Address to the Women Law Students Association, October 21, 1978, Cornelia Kennedy Papers: 1932–2012, 1970–1999, Box 1, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.
135 Sarafa, “Michigan Lawyers in History.”
136 Cornelia G. Kennedy Papers: 1932–2012, Bentley Historical Library, www
137 Julie Titone, “Raised to Love the Law: A Conversation With Judge Cornelia Kennedy,” 2003, unpublished manuscript, Library of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 13.
138 Kate Vloet, “Sisters in Law,” Michigan Today, November 26, 2012, www
139 Titone, “Raised to Love the Law,” 12.
140 Ibid.
141 Ibid.
142 Batchelder, “In Memoriam of Judge Kennedy,” 1016.
143 Ibid.
144 Sarafa, “Michigan Lawyers in History.”
145 Stevens, “Fond Memory,” 118.
146 Barth, “If a Seat Opens.”
147 Kennedy, “Oral History of Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy,” 122.
148 Ibid., 121.
149 Letter from Cornelia Kennedy to Warren Christopher, Chair, ABA Federal Judiciary Committee, December 23, 1975, Cornelia G. Kennedy Papers: 1932–2012, 1970–1999, Box 19, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.
150 Hall, The Supreme Court in American Society.
151 Stevens, “Fond Memory,” 1009.
152 Ibid. Stevens stated that the event occurred at Notre Dame. Kennedy recalled this same event and mentioned it in a number of speeches she delivered over the years. Her recollection, however, places the moot court event at Harvard, not Notre Dame.
153 Ibid.
154 Ibid.
1 Ted Vollmer, “Hufstedler Assails Reagan Promise on Supreme Court,” Los Angeles Times, October 17, 1980.
2 “Carter Says Hufstedler Will Get Cabinet Post,” Wall Street Journal, October 31, 1979.
3 Vollmer, “Hufstedler Assails Reagan Promise on Supreme Court.”
4 “Amalya Kearse,” Academy of Achievement, podcast audio, July 7, 1984, https://
5 Tom Goldstein, “Amalya Lyle Kearse,” New York Times, June 25, 1979.
6 Lee Katterman, “Amalya Lyle Kearse: Judge’s Robe Cloaks an Individual of Many Talents,” University Record, April 26, 1999, www
7 Professor Kimberlee Crenshaw is credited with defining the concept of intersectionality years later. Crenshaw, “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex;” Crenshaw, “Mapping the Margins.”
8 Jacqueline Bell, “The Best Firms for Minority Attorneys,” Law360, June 17, 2018.
9 Broadcast Music Inc. v. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., 441 U.S. 1 (1979).
10 Confirmation Hearing of Amalya L. Kearse, Senate Judiciary Committee, 96th Congress (1979) (statement of Senator Jacob Javits), 115.
11 Johnathan M. Moses, “Judge Kearse Is Colleagues’ Pick as Next Supreme Court Justice,” Wall Street Journal, June 14, 1993.
12 Ibid.
13 Obama’s presidential papers were not yet available at the time this book was written, so we relied on the media reporting of his shortlists.
14 Lou Cannon, “White House Counselor, Attorney General Pull Out of Running for Supreme Court,” Washington Post, June 23, 1981.
15 “Special to the New York Times, Carter’s Appointees Examined for Clues on Supreme Court Possibilities,” New York Times, October 3, 1980.
16 George F. Will, “Who Will ‘Represent’ Quality?,” Washington Post, November 17, 1975.
17 Hayes, Without Precedent, 313.
18 Ibid., 26.
19 State v. Black, 60 N.C. (Win.) 262, 263 (1864).
20 Phillip Elliott, “Men to Hillary: ‘Iron My Shirt,’” Sydney Morning Herald, January 8, 2008.
21 “Father and Daughter Practice Law as Firm,” New York Times, February 18, 1929.
22 Hayes, Without Precedent, 50.
23 Ibid., 47.
24 Ibid., 153.
25 Ibid.
26 Ibid., 2.
27 Jay Jenkins Shar, “Lady Jurist Named to N.C. Supreme Court,” Charlotte Observer, March 10, 1962.
28 Ibid.
29 Aulica Rutland, “Courting Fame: Sharp Set Precedents for Women in Law,” Greensboro News & Record, March 21, 1999.
30 Susie Sharp’s personal notes in preparation for interview with WLOS Asheville, 4898 Subseries 1.1, General Subject Files, Autobiographical Materials, “Susie Sharp Papers,” The Southern Historical Collection, Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
31 Nemacheck, Strategic Selection, 153.
32 Hayes, Without Precedent, 308.
33 Ibid., 313.
34 “First Woman Justice,” Boca Raton News, December 23, 1974.
35 Pat B. Anderson, “Fighting Prejudice Still: Bias Lingers for Women Lawyers,” Los Angeles Times, September 14, 1975.
36 Michael Kernan, “For Her Honors; Sisterhood on the Bench; Joan Dempsey Klein & The Judges’ Network,” Washington Post, October 4, 1980.
37 Ibid.
38 Klein, “Oral History of Joan Dempsey Klein,” 44.
39 Ibid., 7.
40 Ibid., 11–12.
41 Ibid., 14.
42 Mabel C. McKinney-Browning, “‘Don’t Call Me Madam!’: The Personal Side of the Law, From Women Who’ve Made it to the Top,” Update on Law Related Education 5, no. 3 (1981), 52.
43 Ibid., 53.
44 Ibid., 52.
45 Ibid., 53.
46 Klein, “Oral History of Joan Dempsey Klein,” 27.
47 David Margolick, “Women on the Bench: A Sharing of Insights,” New York Times, October 11, 1982.
48 Confirmation Hearing of Sandra Day O’Connor: Testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, 97th Congress 1 (1981) (testimony of Joan Dempsey Klein), 409.
49 Ibid.
50 Ibid.
51 Ibid.
52 “A Person for the Court,” New York Times, July 8, 1981.
53 Kennedy, “Oral History of Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy,” 124.
54 Ibid., 123.
55 Letter sent to President Ronald Reagan by President Gerald Ford, dated June 25, 1981. Ronald Reagan Presidential Archives, 0180000-019999, WHORM Subject File.
56 Letter sent to President Gerald Ford from President Ronald Reagan, dated July 11, 1981. Ronald Reagan Presidential Archives, 0180000-019999, WHORM Subject File.
57 Thornton, “‘Otherness’ on the Bench,” 413.
58 Laura Berman, “1st Woman for Supreme Court,” Detroit Free Press, July 8, 1981.
59 “Arizona Judge Sandra O’Connor, First Woman for Supreme Court, Many Here Wish It Were Kennedy,” Detroit Free Press, July 8, 1981.
60 Ibid.
61 Ibid.
62 Kennedy, “Oral History of Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy,” 121.
63 Francis X. Clines, “Baker Vows Support for Nominee,” New York Times, July 8, 1981.
64 Yalof, Pursuit of Justices, 135.
65 Ibid.
66 Lou Cannon, “Chance to Name Woman; Reagan Given Opportunity to Name Woman Justice; Jockeying Could Be ‘Real Headache,’” Washington Post, June 19, 1981.
67 July 16, 1981 to Helene Von Damn from Anne Higgins. [Mail Sample] 07/16/1981 / nomination of Sandra Day O’Connor (3) Box 70, Anne Higgins Files, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
68 Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992).
69 Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973).
70 Greenburg, Supreme Conflict, 11.
71 Ronald Reagan, “Remarks Announcing the Intention to Nominate Sandra Day O’Connor To Be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States,” Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, July 7, 1981.
72 Editorial, “The Nomination of Mrs. O’Connor,” Washington Post, July 8, 1981.
73 Lynn Rosellini, Jr., “Judge O’Connor Makes Courtesy Call at Capitol; Attorney General William French Smith,” New York Times, July 15, 1981.
74 Confirmation Hearing of Sandra Day O’Connor (testimony of Joan Dempsey Klein), 409.
75 Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000).
76 Memo from Diana Lozano, Special Assistant to the President for Public Liaison, to Elizabeth Dole, Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison, The White House, August 11, 1981.
77 Ibid.
78 Ibid.
1 Matt Essert, “How Many Women Should Sit on the Supreme Court? Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Answer is Badass,” Mic, February 9, 2015.
2 “‘Out of Order’ at the Court: O’Connor on Being the First Female Justice,” Fresh Air: National Public Radio, March 5, 2013.
3 Sandra D. O’Connor, “High Court’s ‘9 Men’ Were a Surprise to One,” New York Times, October 5, 1983.
4 Nemacheck, Strategic Selection, 153.
5 Steven V. Roberts, “Washington Talk: The White House; Picking Another Nominee: Lessons from Bork,” New York Times, October 28, 1987.
6 The Performance of the Reagan Administration in Nominating Women and Minorities to the Federal Bench: Hearings Before the Senate Judiciary Committee, 100th Congress (1988) (testimony of Senator Edward M. Kennedy), 4.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid., 38 (statement of Patrick J. Leahy).
9 Ibid., 9 (statement of Senator Alan K. Simpson).
10 Ibid., 18 (testimony of Stephen J. Markman).
11 Judith Resnik, “This Question Changed the Face of the Supreme Court,” CNN Opinion, September 25, 2018.
12 “As a long-time admirer of Judge Bork and a former colleague of his at the Justice Department, I suggest that the strong and inquiring mind that he displayed as a professor, together with the quality and restraint evidenced in his judgeship, hold the promise of new distinction for the Court.” Carla Hills, “Take the Trouble to Understand,” Patricia Mack Files Folder: [Robert Bork] Carla Hills Group Analysis of Bork (1) OA19247, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
13 Lee Liberman, “Memorandum on Cynthia Holcomb Hall,” OA/ID 45303–005, Box 7, Hall, Cynthia Holcomb, George H. W. Bush Presidential Archives. The same memorandum is also located at “Memorandum on Cynthia Holcomb Hall,” OA 19247, Box 14, Patricia Mack Bryan Supreme Court Files, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
14 Stout, A Matter of Simple Justice, 112.
15 Hall, “Diversifying the Judiciary.”
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid.
20 Stout, A Matter of Simple Justice, 144.
21 Liberman, “Memorandum on Cynthia Holcomb Hall.”
22 Roberts, “Washington Talk.”
23 Dennis McLellan, “Rymer Dies at 70: Judge on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals,” Los Angeles Times, September 24, 2011, http://
24 Planned Parenthood v. American Coalition of Life Activists, 290 F.3d 1058 (9th Cir. 2002).
25 “Hotties in the Holding Pen: Untimely SFJ Nominations,” Underneath Their Robes Blog, July 17, 2004, http://
26 Melanie Kirkpatrick, “Chick List,” Wall Street Journal, September 24, 2005.
27 “Young Judges See Bias in ABA Ratings Criteria,” Legal Times, January 6, 1986.
28 Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973).
29 Marc Kaufman, “Appellate Judge Bristled at Criticism of Nominees,” Washington Post, July 2, 2005.
30 Ibid.
31 Lee Liberman, “Memorandum on Edith Jones,” OA/ID 45303–029, Box 8, Jones, Edith, George H. W. Bush Presidential Library Center.
32 Ibid., speech of President George H. W. Bush.
33 Ibid., letter from Edith Jones to George H. W. Bush.
34 Michael Briggs, “Bush’s Judges are Rich White Men,” Chicago Sun-Times, January 1, 1992.
35 Ibid.
36 Ibid.
37 Memorandum from C. Boyden Gray to the Chief of Staff re Statistics on Federal Judges, March 10, 1992, OA/ID 45323–027, Judicial Selection–Women/Minorities, George H. W. Bush Presidential Library Center.
38 The Performance of the Reagan Administration in Nominating Women and Minorities to the Federal Bench, 38 (statement of Senator Patrick C. Leahy)
39 Catherine Pearson, “23 Ruth Bader Ginsburg Quotes That Will Make You Love Her Even More,” Huffington Post, August 10, 2016, www
40 “Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Reading List,” The Library at Washington and Lee University School of Law, last accessed December 27, 2018, https://
41 Kathleen Quinn, “Treat Judge Ginsburg Like a Man,” New York Times, June 20, 1993.
42 “Mr. Clinton Picks a Justice,” New York Times, June 15, 1993 (stating that Ginsburg’s career and gender stand for the principle of accepting or rejecting people and ideas on their merits, rather than prejudice or stereotypes).
43 Stephen Labaton, “The Man Behind the High Court Nominee,” New York Times, June 17, 1993.
44 Jay Mathews, “The Spouse of Ruth: Marty Ginsburg, the Pre-Feminism Feminist,” Washington Post, June 19, 1993.
45 Ibid.
46 “The Supreme Court: Transcript of President’s Announcement and Judge Ginsburg’s Remarks,” New York Times, June 5, 1993.
47 Mary McGrory, “Clinton Unbridled,” Washington Post, June 17, 1993. Ginsburg was also called “daughterly about her own mother, and sisterly enough to delight all but fanatical feminists.” Ibid.
48 Brenner and Knake, “Rethinking Gender Equality in the Legal Profession’s Pipeline to Power.”
49 David Brooks, “In Her Own Words,” New York Times, October 13, 2005.
50 Todd S. Purdum and Neil A. Lewis, “Hard-Working Advocate for the President,” New York Times, October 4, 2005.
51 Elisabeth Bumiller, “A Place at the Table for Miers and High-Level Friends,” New York Times, October 10, 2005.
52 Michael Grunwald et al., “A Deep Dedication to the President, and to Her Work,” Washington Post, October 4, 2005.
53 Ibid.
54 Ibid.
55 Robert H. Bork, “Editorial: Slouching Towards Miers,” Wall Street Journal, October 19, 2005.
56 “Nixon: ‘I Should Like to Share With You … My Reasons,’” Washington Post, October 22, 1971.
57 Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973).
58 Janny Scott, “Court Choice Conservative by Nature, Not Ideology,” New York Times, November 7, 2005.
59 Laura M. Holson, “Then Comes the Marriage Question,” New York Times, May 16, 2010.
60 President Obama’s 2009 shortlist reportedly included Federal Court of Appeals Judges Sonia Sotomayor and Diane Wood, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, and California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno. Bill Mears, “Sources: High Court Selection Process Down to Finalists,” CNN Politics, May 13, 2009, www
61 Paul Campos, “Fat Judge Need Not Apply,” Daily Beast, May 4, 2009, www
62 Amy Argetsinger and Roseanne Roberts, “Sotomayor: A Single Supreme?,” Washington Post, May 27, 2009.
63 Ibid.
64 Ibid.
65 Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “A Trailblazer and a Dreamer,” New York Times, May 27, 2009.
66 Keith B. Richburg, “Friends Provide Glimpse into Nominee’s ‘Very Full Life,’” Washington Post, May 31, 2009.
67 Ibid.
68 Ibid.
69 Holson, “Then Comes the Marriage Question.”
70 Ibid.
71 Ann Gerhart, “The Supreme Court Needs More Mothers,” Washington Post, May 16, 2010.
72 Ibid.
73 Lisa Belkin, “Judging Women,” New York Times, May 23, 2010.
74 Amy Goldstein et al., “A History of Pragmatism Over Partisanship,” Washington Post, May 11, 2010.
75 Ibid.
76 Frank Rich, “A Heaven-Sent Rent Boy,” New York Times, May 16, 2010.
77 Ruth Marcus, “Smart Women, Fewer Choices,” Washington Post, May 14, 2010.
78 The shortlist reportedly included Ketanji Brown Jackson, U.S. District Court for D.C.; Jane Kelly, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit; Patricia Millett, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit; Sri Srinivasan, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit; and Paul Watford, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Dylan Matthews, “Obama’s Supreme Court Shortlist Has Leaked. Here are the 6 Contenders,” Vox, March 12, 2016.
1 Address to the Women Law Students Association, October 21, 1978, Cornelia G. Kennedy Papers: 1932–2012, 1970–1999, Box 1: 19, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.
2 Jan Crawford Greenburg, “O’Connor Voices Hope For Day Affirmative Action Not Needed,” Chicago Tribune, June 25, 2003.
3 Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “Tokenism,” accessed January 6, 2019, www
4 Kanter, Men and Women of the Corporation.
5 “Amalya Kearse,” Academy of Achievement, podcast audio, July 7, 1984, https://
6 Lillie, “Justice Mildred L. Lillie,” 68.
7 Interview with Cornelia Kennedy and Margaret Schaeffer, Cornelia G. Kennedy Papers: 1932–2012, 1970–1999, Box 1: 19, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.
8 Karin Klenke, professor of organizational leadership and head of the Leadership Development Institute International, explains that “[w]omen in leadership roles share many of the structural characteristics of tokens: they are highly visible, public individuals who attract attention with anything they do; as such, they are stand-ins for all women, symbols of how women behave and perform as leaders.” Klenke, Women and Leadership, 176.
9 Memorandum from Elizabeth Dole to Diana Lozano, “Judicial Appointments—Status of Women,” August 21, 1981, The White House, 2.
10 Solberg, “Court Size and Diversity on the Bench,” 264, Table 2D.
11 Tom Goldstein, “Amalya Lyle Kearse,” New York Times, June 25, 1979.
12 Elizabeth Bumiller, “A Place at the Table for Miers and High-Level Friends,” New York Times, October 10, 2005.
13 Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts, “Sotomayor: A Single Supreme?,” Washington Post, May 27, 2009.
14 Cruz and Molina, “Hispanic National Bar Association National Study on the Status of Latinas in the Legal Profession—Few and Far Between,” 3.
15 Stefanie K. Johnson, David R. Hekman, and Elsa T. Chan, “If There’s Only One Woman in Your Candidate Pool, There’s Statistically No Chance She’ll Be Hired,” Harvard Business Review, April 26, 2016, https://
16 Lopez and Johnson, Presumed Incompetent, 392.
17 Nomination of Sandra Day O’Connor: Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate, 97th Congress (1981) (statement of Joan Dempsey Klein, Presiding Justice, California Court of Appeals, and President, National Association of Women Judges), 410.
18 Rhode, The Beauty Bias.
19 Martin and Jurik, Doing Justice, Doing Gender, 127. In one study, the authors noted how “a judge allow[ed] the opposing attorney to label a woman attorney’s appearance a ‘distraction,’ [thus] signal[ing] to others that it is acceptable to use a woman’s looks as the basis for objecting against other woman attorneys.” Ibid.
20 Ibid.
21 Marion Bussang, “Dates, Clothes and Play Relevant, Not Material,” New York Post, April 22, 1940; Soia Mentschikoff Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Joseph Regenstein Library, University of Chicago.
22 “She Wore Fancy Hats to Labor Meetings,” Express, June 19, 1974.
23 John Betz, “HUD Chief Opts for Saving Existing Stock,” Los Angeles Times, August 8, 1976.
24 Ibid.
25 Rhitu Chatterjee, “A New Survey Finds 81 Percent of Women Have Experienced Sexual Harassment,” February 21, 2018.
26 Lillie, “Justice Mildred L. Lillie,” 31.
27 “Amalya Kearse,” Academy of Achievement.
28 Dianne Curtis, “At 87, Forever Young Joan Dempsey Klein Wins Another Honor and Might Consider Retirement,” California Bar Journal, November 2011.
29 Cynthia Hall, “A Few Good Women: Advancing the Cause of Women in Government, 1969–74,” Pennsylvania State University Oral History Collection (1998), 30.
30 Ibid.
31 MacKinnon, Sexual Harassment of Working Women, 1.
32 Michael Kernan, “For Her Honors; Sisterhood on the Bench; Joan Dempsey Klein & The Judges’ Network,” Washington Post, October 4, 1980.
33 American Bar Association Model Rule of Professional Conduct 8.4(g).
34 Niraj Chokshi, “Federal Judge Alex Kozinski Retires Abruptly After Sexual Harassment Allegations,” New York Times, December 18, 2017.
35 Joan Biskupic, “Judicial Council Takes No Action Against Former Judge Alex Kozinski,” February 5, 2018, www
36 Testimony of Professor Renee Newman Knake before the Federal Judicial Conference, October 30, 2018, www
37 For a discussion of gender sidelining, or the “many ways in which women across a wide range of employment settings face obstacles that inhibit their advancement at work through policies and practices not reached by traditional antidiscrimination laws,” see Fink, “Gender Sidelining and the Problem of Unactionable Discrimination.”
38 Eileen Shanahan, “President Bypasses Women for Court; Talent Pool Small,” New York Times, October 21, 1971.
1 Hall, “Diversifying the Judiciary.”
2 Frye, The Politics of Reality, 2.
3 Jamieson, Beyond the Double Bind, 120–45.
4 Mona Harrington et al, “Advancing Women in the Profession: Action Plans for Women’s Bar Associations,” MIT Workplace Center (2007), 8.
5 Brent Staples, “How the Suffrage Movement Betrayed Black Women,” New York Times, July 28, 2018.
6 Allen, To Do Justly, 9.
7 Jacobi and Schweers, “Justice, Interrupted.”
8 Joan Biskupic, “Ginsburg: Court Needs Another Woman,” USA Today, May 5, 2009.
9 Ibid.
10 Our contemporary ideas surrounding which political groups might support the Equal Rights Amendment is at odds with the historical reality that progressives initially opposed the amendment. Their opposition stemmed from their fear that the legislation would be used by conservative courts in the 1920s through 1950s to strike down protective labor legislation ensuring minimum wage and maximum hours for women.
11 Robert Sherrill, “That Equal-Rights Amendment—What, Exactly, Does It Mean?,” New York Times, September 20, 1970.
12 Susanna Dokupil, “Portrait of a Modern Feminist: Hon. Edith H. Jones, Independent Women’s Forum,” July 2, 2012, www
13 Memorandum from John W. Dean and David R. Young to Attorney General John N. Mitchell and John D. Erlichman, “Interview with Justice Mildred L. Lillie October 14, 1971–3:30–8:00 P.M.,” October 16, 1971, White House Central Files, Alphabetical Name Files, Lillie, Mildred, Judge [1 of 4].
14 Hayes, Without Precedent, 447–48, citing Elizabeth Shelton, “Are the Scales Weighted against Women Judges?,” Washington Post, September 19, 1965.
15 Hall, “Diversifying the Judiciary.”
16 Norgren, Stories From Trailblazing Women Lawyers, 66–67.
17 Epstein, Women in Law, 50.
18 Letter from Soia Mentschikoff to Frank Brenner, February 9, 1951, Soia Mentschikoff Papers 1913–1987, Special Collections Research Center, Joseph Regenstein Library, University of Chicago.
19 Emily Bazelon, “A Judge Who Didn’t See Discrimination,” New York Times Magazine, December 23, 2014.
20 Tom Goldstein, “Amalya Lyle Kearse,” New York Times, June 25, 1979.
21 Testimony of Dennis W. Archer, President, Wolverine Bar Association, Before the Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate Concerning the Nomination of Judge Cornelia Kennedy to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 6–7.
22 Hayes, Without Precedent, 2.
23 Ibid., 197, citing Susie Marshall Sharp to Millard Sheridan Breckenridge, December 11, 1965.
24 Cook, “The First Woman Candidate for the Supreme Court,” 21.
25 State ex rel Weaver v. Board of Trustees of Ohio State University, 126 O.S. 290 (1933).
26 Cook, “The First Woman Candidate for the Supreme Court,” 21.
27 Allen, To Do Justly, 92.
28 Goldstein, “Amalya Lyle Kearse.”
29 Marion Bussang, “Dates, Clothes and Play Relevant, Not Material,” New York Post, April 22, 1940; Soia Mentschikoff Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Joseph Regenstein Library, University of Chicago.
30 “Law as a Career for Women Urged: Magistrate Kross and Justice Craig See Them Rapidly Gaining Recognition,” New York Times, November 10, 1935.
31 Ibid.
32 Ibid.
33 Dorothy Harrington, “The Return of the 4 ½ Inch Heel,” Los Angeles Times, March 24, 1977.
34 Marlene Cimons, “Carla Hills’ Day on the Hill,” Los Angeles Times, March 10, 1975.
35 Hall, “Diversifying the Judiciary.”
36 Ibid., Part 1.
37 Ibid.
38 “Susie Sharp Papers,” The Southern Historical Collection.
39 Lillie, “Justice Mildred L. Lillie,” 25.
40 Lee Liberman, “Memorandum on Cynthia Holcomb Hall,” OA/ID 45303–005, Box 7, Hall, Cynthia Holcomb, George H. W. Bush Presidential Archives. The same memorandum is also located at “Memorandum on Cynthia Holcomb Hall,” OA 19247, Box 14, Patricia Mack Bryan Supreme Court Files, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
41 Lillie, “Justice Mildred L. Lillie,” 7.
42 Twining, “‘Looking Back Will Still Keep Us Looking Forward.’”
43 Hayes, Without Precedent, 2.
44 Ibid., 47.
45 Brenner and Knake, “Rethinking Gender Equality in the Legal Profession’s Pipeline to Power,” 143. Indeed, the media heavily scrutinized the personal lives of Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan following their nomination to the Court. David Souter also received scrutiny as an unmarried man, suggesting the issue is broader than gender and more related to a departure from traditional heterosexual marital norms.
46 Kenney, “Choosing Judges,” 1499. Kenney states, “Men from President Roosevelt to President Reagan may have preferred their women trailblazers to have impeccable heterosexual credentials.” “Because Allen’s primary relationship was not with a man, her private life—in particular her relationships with other women—has been ignored in Cleveland history, legal history, and social policy history. All are impoverished by this consistent refusal to deal with the significance of women’s relationships.” Organ, “Sexuality as a Category of Historical Analysis,” 12.
47 Quinn, Eleanor and Hick.
48 Susie Sharp, notes in preparation for radio interview with WLOS in Asheville, NC, “Susie Sharp Papers,” The Southern Historical Collection.
49 Crabb, The Wife Drought, 250–51.
50 Ibid., 251.
51 Klein, “Oral History of Joan Dempsey Klein,” 13.
52 Ibid., 50.
53 Liberman, Lee S., Judicial Candidate Files, Box Number 7, Hall, Cynthia Holcomb [OA/ID 45303–005], George H. W. Bush Presidential Library.
54 Hall, “Diversifying the Judiciary.”
55 B. Drummond Ayres, Jr., “Woman in the News; ‘A Reputation for Excelling,’” New York Times, July 8, 1981.
56 Whitman, “Soia Mentschikoff and Karl Llewellyn.”
57 Ibid.
58 Susie Sharp, notes in preparation for radio interview with WLOS in Asheville, NC.
59 Ibid.
60 Williams, “Litigating the Glass Ceiling and the Maternal Wall,” 288.
61 “Carla Hills Manages H.U.D., Hubby and Home,” People Magazine, March 31, 1975.
62 Rhode, “The Difference ‘Difference’ Makes,” 10.
63 Whitman, “Soia Mentschikoff and Karl Llewellyn,” 1126.
64 Ibid.
65 Dorothy McCardle, “Who’s King of the Hills?,” Washington Post, October 26, 1975.
66 Barbara Franklin, “Barbara Franklin,” interview by Timothy Naftali and Paul Musgrave, Yorba Linda, California, March 7, 2007. (Former Secretary of Commerce Barbara Franklin talked about her work as a staff assistant to President Nixon from 1971 to 1973).
67 Sady Doyle, “Nancy Pelosi Is Old. Good,” Medium, November 20, 2018.
68 Ibid.
69 Cook, “The First Woman Candidate for the Supreme Court,” 31.
70 Doyle, “Nancy Pelosi Is Old.”
71 Liberman, “Memorandum on Cynthia Holcomb Hall.”
72 “Pat Believes Age Is a Factor in Putting Woman on Court,” Chicago Tribune, September 25, 1971.
73 Dean, The Rehnquist Choice, 111.
74 Box 37F, Fred Fielding Files, Supreme Court [Mostly Sandra Day O’Connor Nomination] (1 of 4), Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
75 Doyle, “Nancy Pelosi Is Old.”
1 Corydon Ireland, “O’Connor Marks Women’s Progress in Legal Profession, but Warns in Radcliffe Talk of ‘Victorian Echos,’” Harvard Gazette Online, June 11, 2009, https://
2 Peter Baker and Jim Rutenberg, “The Long Road to a Clinton Exit,” New York Times, June 8, 2008.
3 Hoyt v. Florida, 368 U.S. 57, 62 (1961).
4 Letter to President Ford from Beatrice Stegeman, November 15, 1975, File 20141215 140215, Gerald L. Ford Presidential Library.
5 Frontiero v. Richardson, 411 U.S. 677 (1973).
6 Craig v. Boren, 429 U.S. 190 (1976).
7 Collins et al., “Gender, Critical Mass, and Judicial Decision Making,” 263 (reflecting that “[c]onsidered collectively, the result of research subjecting gender effects to empirical scrutiny in the judicial arena has been decidedly mixed,” leading to a failure to “uncover systematic differences between male and female jurists”); Kenney, “Critical Perspectives on Gender and Judging,” 436 (noting that political scientists have found that gender does not affect judicial decision-making, with the occasional exception of some sex discrimination and divorce cases); Deborah Rhode, “In a ‘Different’ Voice: What Does the Research About How Gender Influences Judging Actually Say?,” Slate (June 2009), (discussing the “cottage industry of empirical work [that] has tried to disentangle the influence of gender on judging” and observing that the “[r]esults vary” on whether gender makes a difference).
8 Carol Gilligan’s influential work In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development has been applied by many scholars and commentators to assess decisions by women judges. Gilligan theorized that men and women approach moral reasoning differently. Though her work has been critiqued as essentialist and based upon empirical studies that could not be replicated, she sparked a debate that continues even today about the difference women make in decision-making. Other scholars examining the impact of being a female or being a feminist as a judge include Dixon, “Female Justices, Feminism, and the Politics of Judicial Appointment,” 304 (providing a list of scholars who suggest that “Justices O’Connor and Ginsburg have adopted a distinctively ‘feminine’ jurisprudential approach simply by reason of being female”) and Hill, “What Difference Will Women Judges Make?,” 185–86 (concluding that female judges “make a difference” on the bench because the contribution of their alternative perspective “reaffirms the promise of equality under the law” and may “influence … the overall direction the law takes”).
9 Sherry, “Civic Virtue and the Feminine Voice in Constitutional Adjudication.”
10 O’Connor, “Madison Lecture,” 1553.
11 Hirshman, Sisters in Law, 300. “With the richness of her experiences as a woman lawyer coming up when society was arrayed against her, O’Connor’s record on women’s issues is by far the most liberal of all the bodies of law she created in her long career and much more liberal than the other Reagan appointees, Scalia and Kennedy.” Ibid.
12 Choi et al., “Judging Women,” 504, 505.
13 Ibid, 504. But see Barondes, “Federal District Judge Gender and Reversals” (arguing that the results in Choi et al., “Judging Women,” are “not informative” because the authors do not consider that a relationship may already exist between gender and their selected measures of judicial performance, and therefore choosing a different methodology).
14 Allen and Wall, “Role Orientations and Women State Supreme Court Justices.”
15 McCall and McCall, “How Far Does the Gender Gap Extend?,” 67–82.
16 Songer and Crews-Meyer, “Does Judge Gender Matter?”
17 Martin and Pyle, “State High Courts and Divorce,” 940–41.
18 Steffensmeier and Hebert, “Women and Men Policymakers,” 1186.
19 Smith, Jr., “Gendered Justice,” 2123.
20 Haire and Moyer, Diversity Matters, 53. (“[O]verall the empirical analyses support the findings reported by other studies that have tested for gender differences in judicial decision-making from earlier eras. Men and women on the bench are quite similar in their voting behavior, with one exception: cases involving sex discrimination.”)
21 Farhand and Wawro, “Institutional Dynamics on the U.S. Court of Appeals”; Boyd et al., “Untangling the Causal Effects of Sex on Judging,” 389.
22 Dixon, “Female Justices, Feminism, and the Politics of Judicial Appointment,” 311–19.
23 Ibid., 338 (suggesting that the focus on gender parity is misguided, arguing instead for the addition of judges who have a feminist ideology). Dixon acknowledges feminists’ desire for equal numbers of women in the judiciary, but concludes that “feminists must also weigh these benefits associated with the mere presence of a female justice on the Court against the importance of a justice’s substantive approach to issues of central concern to feminists, such as abortion, pay equity, sex discrimination, sexual harassment, and an ongoing dialogue about the meaning of gender equality under the Equal Protection Clause.” Ibid., 336.
24 Ibid., 338 (noting that a president might “exploit [feminists’ focus on gender parity] in order to appoint an actively anti-feminist female judge” and that, in such an instance, feminists “should choose the feminist who is male”).
25 Glynn and Sen, “Identifying Judicial Empathy” (“Looking at data from the U.S. Courts of Appeals, we find that … conditional on the number of children, judges with daughters consistently vote in a more liberal fashion on gender issues than judges without daughters”).
26 Rhode and Kellerman, Women and Leadership (noting extensive research on U.S. legislatures finds that “party affiliation is more important than gender in predicting votes on women’s issues, and that ideology is more important in predicting sponsorship of legislation on these issues” [citations omitted]).
27 Schultz and Shaw, Gender and Judging, 27.
28 Joan Biskupic, “Ginsburg: Court Needs Another Woman,” USA Today, May 5, 2009.
29 Safford Unified School District v. Redding, 557 U.S. 364 (2009).
30 Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 U.S. 124, 185 (2007).
31 Doe v. Dominion Bank of Washington N.A., 963 F.2d 1552, 1554 (D.C. Cir 1992).
32 Gebser v. Lago Vista Independent School District, 524 U.S. 274 (1998).
33 Davis v. Monroe County School Board, 526 U.S. 629 (1999).
34 Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., 550 U.S. 618 (2007).
35 Robert Barnes, “Over Ginsburg’s Dissent, Court Limits Bias Suits,” Washington Post, May 30, 2007.
36 Ledbetter, 550 U.S. 645.
37 Schuette v. Coalition to End Affirmative Action, 572 U.S. 291, 381 (2014).
38 Ibid.
39 Neil A. Lewis, “Debate on Whether Female Judges Decide Differently Arises Anew,” New York Times, June 4, 2009.
40 Derek Hawkins, “‘Wise Latina Woman’: Jeff Sessions, Race and His Grilling of Sonia Sotomayor,” Washington Post, January 13, 2017.
41 “Sotomayor Wants More Diversity on Court, After Obama Picks Garland, A White Ivy Male,” Fox News, April 9, 2016.
42 Frank Rich, “A Heaven-Sent Rent Boy,” New York Times, May 16, 2010.
43 Ibid.
44 Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Say It with Feeling? Not This Time Around,” New York Times, May 29, 2009.
45 Cowan, “Do Women on South Africa’s Courts Make a Difference?,” 328.
46 O’Connor and Azzarelli, “Sustainable Development, Rule of Law and the Impact of Women Judges,” 3.
47 Justin Trudeau, “Why Canada Has a New Way to Choose Supreme Court Judges,” Globe and Mail, August 2, 2016.
48 Ibid.
49 Beiner, “Is There Really a Diversity Conundrum?,” 285.
50 O’Connor, The Majesty of the Law, 201.
51 Madeline Albright, “Madeleine Albright to Grads: The World Needs You,” Time video, May 18, 2015, http://
52 Kay, “Herma Hill Kay,” 26.
53 Ibid.
54 Schultz and Shaw, Gender and Judging, 22.
55 Cowan, “Do Women on South Africa’s Courts Make a Difference?,” 320–321.
56 Kanau, “Women Judges and Magistrates in Kenya,” 171.
57 Ibid., 180.
58 Ibid., 182. The High Court is the third level, below the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal.
59 Monopoli, “Gender Parity and the United States Supreme Court”; Suk, “Gender Quotas After the End of Men.”
60 “California Becomes First State to Require Women on Corporate Boards,” NBC News, September 30, 2018. As this book went to press, the Illinois legislature was considering a similar measure to require at least one female and one African American director on boards. The Illinois House passed the legislation on March 29, 2019, with a vote of 61–27.
61 Emily Stewart, “California Just Passed a Law Requiring More Women on Boards. It Matters, Even if it Fails,” Vox, October 3, 2018.
1 Sotomayor, My Beloved World, ii–iii.
2 Hannah Smothers, “All 19 Black Women Running for Judge in a Texas Race Won Tuesday Night,” Cosmopolitan, November 7, 2018.
3 Tom Dart, “‘Black Girl Magic’: 19 Black Women Ran for Judge in Texas County—and All 19 Won,” Guardian, November 8, 2018.
4 Ginger Gibson, “Trump Identifies 11 Potential Supreme Court Nominees,” Reuters, May 18, 2016.
5 “President Donald J. Trump’s Supreme Court List,” The White House, accessed January 6, 2019, www
6 “More Than 20 Million People Watched Brett Kavanaugh Hearing,” CBS News, September 29, 2018.
7 Louis Jacobson, “In Context: Brett Kavanaugh and ‘What Goes Around Comes Around,’” Politifact, October 4, 2018.
8 The only confirmation with a narrower vote was Justice Stanley Matthews, nominated by President James Garfield, who received a vote of 24–23.
9 This phenomenon is not limited to the United States. Former Israeli President Moshe Katsav served prison time for rape and other forms of sexual violence committed against women who worked for him. Similarly, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has repeatedly been accused of harassment and sexual violence by multiple women spanning the globe, though he has never been convicted for these crimes in any country.
10 Sandberg, Lean In. While at first well received by women who formed “lean in circles,” a harsh reality was revealed, notably by Michelle Obama, who critiqued the concept, saying, “That &#%! doesn’t work.” Laurel Wamsley, “Michelle Obama’s Take on Lean In? ‘That &#%! Doesn’t Work,’” National Public Radio, December 3, 2018.
11 According to the World Economic Forum, as of 2018, there were 18 countries where husbands had the legal right to prevent their wives from working.
12 A special symposium issue of the Michigan State Law Review contains the scholarship generated by this event. Brenner and Knake, “Gender and the Legal Profession’s Pipeline to Power.”
13 Louis Uchitelle, “A Crowbar for Carla Hills,” New York Times, June 10, 1990.
14 Ibid.
15 Rachel Denhollander, “The Price I Paid for Taking on Larry Nassar,” New York Times, January 26, 2018.
16 Marcia Coyle, “How Many Women Lawyers Were Elected in the Midterms? Quite a Few,” National Law Journal, November 8, 2018, www
17 Carol J. Williams, “Cynthia Holcomb Hall Dies at 82; U.S. 9th Circuit Judge,” Los Angeles Times, March 2, 2011.
18 Chuck Conconi, “Law and Ardor,” Washingtonian, October 1994.
19 Hall, “Diversifying the Judiciary.”
20 Ibid.
21 Ibid.
22 Lynn Lilliston and Marlene Cimons, “Women Front Runners for High Court,” Los Angeles Times, September 30, 1971. (“A remark by Mrs. Nixon added a touch of mystery to the situation. Mrs. Nixon told reporters that she had been encouraging the President to name a woman.”) The influence of presidents’ wives, in particular, continued well beyond the women shortlisted pre-O’Connor. See, for example, Stephen Labaton, “Clinton Nears Choice for High Court Nominee,” New York Times, May 19, 1993 (administration official noting that Hillary Clinton favored Judge Amalya Kearse for the Supreme Court nomination); Peter Baker, “Unraveling the Twists and Turns of the Path to a Nominee,” Washington Post, July 25, 2005 (“Then first lady Laura Bush weighed in, telling an interviewer that she wanted her husband to replace O’Connor with another woman.”). And the women on the Court have weighed in too. See Jeanne Cummings and Jess Bravin, “Bush Aides Consider Female Successor to O’Connor,” Wall Street Journal, July 19, 2005 (“But some—including first lady Laura Bush and the court’s two current women members, Justices O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg—have suggested the president should pick another woman.”).
23 “Betty Ford Tells Interviewer Her Bedroom Views,” Los Angeles Times, August 20, 1975.
24 Richard Nixon Presidential Oral History Program, Barbara Hackman Franklin Interview Transcription, March 7, 2007, 23.
25 Jean Rainey, “Oral History Interview with Julie Nixon Eisenhower,” March 9, 1999, www
26 Lillie, “Justice Mildred L. Lillie,” 106–7.
27 Kay, “Herma Hill Kay,” 48.
28 Allen, To Do Justly, 34.
29 Ibid., 28.
30 Hills, “Oral History of Carla A. Hills,” interview by Janet McDavid, 4.
31 Klein, “Oral History of Joan Dempsey Klein,” 16.
32 Ibid.
33 Ibid., 13.
34 Douglas Huron’s Subject Files, Box 249, Folder Judicial Selection Strategy—Strategy Affirmative Action, Jimmy Carter Presidential Library.
35 U.S. Congress, Senate, Confirmation Hearing on Amalya L. Kearse before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 96th Congress, June 7, 1979, 127.
36 Ibid.
37 Ibid.
38 Remarks at a White House Reception for the National Association of Women Judges, October 3, 1980, Records of the Counsel’s Office Lloyd Cutler’s Files, Jordan, Hamilton 2/79–5/80 through Justice Department, 6/80–11/80, Box 93, Folder Judges, Jimmy Carter Presidential Library.
39 Alan Feuer, “A Judge Wants a Bigger Role for Female Lawyers. So He Made a Rule,” New York Times, August 23, 2017.
40 Debra Cassens Weiss, “Supreme Court Law Clerks are Still Mostly White Men; Which Justices had the Most Diverse Clerks?,” American Bar Association Journal, December 12, 2017.
41 Mabel C. McKinney-Browning, “‘Don’t Call Me Madam!’: The Personal Side of the Law, From Women Who’ve Made it to the Top,” Update on Law Related Education 5, no. 3 (1981), 53.
42 Ibid.
43 Ibid.
44 John Ingold, “EEOC Accuses DU Law School of Discriminating Against Women Professors,” Denver Post, August 31, 2015.
45 Hall “Diversifying the Judiciary.”
46 This term, first coined by Arlie Hochschild in her groundbreaking book of the same name published in 1989, The Second Shift, describes the enduring burden placed upon women when they enter the workforce and still find themselves doing the majority of housework. Hochschild and Machung, The Second Shift.
47 Louis Uchitelle, “A Crowbar for Carla Hills,” New York Times, June 10, 1990.
48 Michelle K. Ryan and S. Alexander Haslam, “The Glass Cliff: Evidence that Women are Over-Represented in Precarious Leadership Positions,” British Journal of Management 16 (February 9, 2005).
49 Culver, “The Rise of Self Sidelining.”
50 Karen Higginbottom, “Two-Thirds of Women in the U.K. Suffer from Imposter Syndrome at Work,” Forbes, July 29, 2018. A study of 3,000 adults living in the United Kingdom found that “while men were far from immune from experiencing imposter syndrome, they were 18% less likely to do so than their female counterparts.” Ibid.
51 Hayes, Without Precedent, 25.
1 For a compelling documentation of this reality, see Kate Manne, Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny (2018).
2 Sophie Tatum, “Grassley Suggests Lack of Women on Judiciary is Because ‘It’s a Lot of Work,’ Then Says It’s a Lot of Work for Men Too,” CNN, October 5, 2018.
3 Joanna Walters, “Trump Calls Stormy Daniels ‘Horseface’ and Threatens More Legal Action,” Guardian, October 16, 2018.
4 The iconic Norma Rae is based on the real-life experience of factory worker and union organizer Crystal Lee Sutton, who protested low wages and working conditions in 1973 and was subsequently fired for her activism. Sutton engaged in a legal battle and the court ordered she receive back pay and be rehired. An award-winning Hollywood film based on Sutton’s life and legal battles, entitled Norma Rae, was produced in 1979 (Sally Fields played the role of Sutton). Dennis Hevesi, “Crystal Lee Sutton, the Real-Life ‘Norma Rae,’ Is Dead at 68,” New York Times, September 15, 2009.
5 Sasha Galbraith, “Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s Advice for Women Today: Know When to Fight,” Forbes, February 5, 2013.
6 Ibid.
1 Nemacheck, Strategic Selection, 55.
2 Ibid., 145–55.
3 Ibid. Other women may also have been excluded by Nemacheck.
4 Nemacheck, Strategic Selection, 13.
5 “Potential High Court Nominees,” New York Times, October 14, 1971 (listing Sylvia Bacon, Robert C. Byrd, Charles Clark, Herschel H. Friday, Mildred Loree Lillie, and Paul H. Roney as “potential high court nominees”). John Dean has also written about Bacon’s consideration by President Nixon. Dean, The Rehnquist Choice, 110.
6 Bacon’s name was included for submission to “the ABA’s evaluation committee” with “Mildred Lillie … Herschel Friday and whoever else they selected as camouflage. For the latter, Nixon suggested Federal Judge Charles Clark of Mississippi [and] Robert Byrd.” Dean, The Rehnquist Choice, 153.
7 For example, in 1971, the National Women’s Political Caucus named ten potential female nominees for President Nixon’s consideration:
Three women judges were suggested by the caucus. They are Judge Shirley Hufstedler, 46 years old, of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Los Angeles; Judge Cornelia Kennedy, 48, of United States District Court in Detroit, and Judge Constance Baker Motley, 50, of United States District Court, Southern District of New York. The caucus suggested five professors of law. They are Soia Mentschikoff, 56, of the University of Chicago; Herma Hill Kay, 37, of the University of California at Berkeley; Ellen Peters, 41, of Yale; Dorothy Nelson, 45, dean of the University of Southern California School of Law, and Patricia Roberts Harris, 47, former dean of the Howard University School of Law and former Ambassador to Luxembourg. The caucus also suggested Representative Martha W. Griffiths, Republican of Michigan, 59, and Rita Hauser, 37, United States Representative to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. (“10 Women Named as Caucus Choices for Court Seats,” New York Times, September 28, 1971.)
8 Linda Greenhouse, “The Kind of Judge We Need,” New York Times, January 17, 2019.
1 Walker, Presidents and Civil Liberties from Wilson to Obama. Katzenbach “did include Soia Mentschikoff of the University of Chicago Law School on an early list of possible Supreme Court nominees in 1962, probably the first such consideration in history.” Ibid.
2 Nemacheck, Strategic Selection, 150 (listing Mentschikoff on Johnson’s shortlist for the Fortas vacancy). Others credit President Ford as the first. “While Gerald Ford did not appoint a woman to the bench, instead naming John Paul Stevens, his administration was the first where women were seriously identified as candidates for a seat on the court.” Martin, The Presidency and Women, 186.
3 Staci D. Kramer, “Enter O’Connor, Exit ‘Mr. Justice,’” New York Times, November 16, 1990.
4 Epstein, “Beverly Blair Cook,” 56.
5 For example, Susan B. Haire and Laura P. Moyer write in their book Diversity Matters: Judicial Policy Making in the U.S. Courts of Appeals that “Florence Allen was a graduate of the University of Chicago.” Ibid., 36. But we confirmed through numerous other sources (including Allen’s own biography) that Allen only attended law school at Chicago for one year before transferring to NYU Law School, where she graduated in 1913. Allen, To Do Justly, 25.
6 Richard Nixon Presidential Oral History Program, Barbara Hackman Franklin Interview Transcription, March 7, 2007, 23.
7 Verveer and Azzarelli, Fast Forward, 64.