Howling Latina has a good post up on the five guys who Senators Warner and Webb have jointly nominated for appointment to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The list has some men on it for whom I have great respect. But, I have to ask ... at a time when nearly 50% of all law students are women, and when there are a significant number of well-respected partners in law firms and women serving as state court judges, the Senators couldn't find a single qualified woman to nominate?
Sorry, guys, but 52% of the population deserves meaningful representation on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, and it's time for Virgina to join Maryland, South Carolina and North Carolina as states in the circuit that have a woman among their representatives on this important federal bench.
The bar associations need to do a better job of identifying qualified women (and minorities) for the Senators to consider, and the Senators need to agree that they won't send up a list of nominees for any judicial appointment that isn't inclusive of qualified women and minorities.
There was a time when you could defend the decision to nominate only men for an opening on a federal court bench saying there weren't enough women with the requisite experience at the bar to qualify, but that time has long since past.
Our Senators need to do better and women in Virginia, and, particularly women attorneys in Virginia, should expect more.
5 comments:
Well, it is easy to complain, but President Bush did nominate Pricilla Owen from UVA a couple years ago, and the democrats refused to consider her.
I reserve the right to reject anonymous comments but this one illustrates the increasingly no nothingness of much of what passes for commentary these days in the Virginia blogosphere.
Priscilla Owen is neither a Virginian nor a UVA graduate; nor was she nominated for the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. Rather, she is a Texan who graduated from Baylor Law School who now sits on the Appeals Court for the 5th Circuit. The only thing this commenter got right is that Democrats blocked her appointment in 2001 but her appointment was approved in 2005 when R's gained control (temporarily) of the US Senate.
So, let's get back to the facts. Despite the fact that women make up 52% of the population in Virginia and a significant portion of the members of the Virginia bar, I do not think any Senator of either party has yet to nominate a woman for the "Virginia seats" on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, and, in 2007, it is simply inexcusable for any list to be sent to the president that does not include qualified women.
Sorry ... that's "know nothingness" but the void suggested by "no nothingness" may be equally apt.
Hi, it's Snoskred here. I've recently become a blogging chick and have set myself a challenge to comment on as many Blogging Chick blogs as I can. So that's why I'm here. ;) Just saying Hi. :)
Snoskred
http://snoskred.blogspot.com/
Snoskred:
Thanks for coming by. What's the proportion of jurists in Australia who are women? Are women evenly represented on the bench, among QC's etc?
CG2
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