I Don't Give A Flying Fig How Many Women Law Clerks Brett Kavanaugh Hires
Spare me the accolades over Brett Kavanaugh's hiring practices.
(Photo by MELINA MARA/AFP/Getty Images)
On Friday, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke at the Second Circuit Judicial Conference. In those remarks, she had a lot to say about the sharply divided Court and how we can expect more of the same. The speech was filled with interesting insight from an insider and will give Court watchers more fodder as they attempt to divine the meaning in the tea leaves.
In her comments she also took time to praise the newest and most controversial justice to sit on the Court, Brett Kavanaugh, for his hiring practices:
Justice Kavanaugh made history by bringing on board an all-female law clerk crew. Thanks to his selections, the Court has this Term, for the first time ever, more women than men serving as law clerks.
Women did not fare nearly as well as advocates. Only about 21% of the attorneys presenting oral argument this Term were female; of the thirty-four attorneys who appeared more than once, only six were women.
Here’s the thing, I guess, in theory it is nice that Kavanaugh hired women rather than more bro-dudes but I do not care. It doesn’t matter how many women he surrounds himself with — it can’t make me forget the testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. I don’t know if his clerks don’t believe Dr. Ford or merely don’t care but neither makes me happy to have these women close to the levers of power.
And I don’t care how many women law clerks will be working at the Court when it, seemingly inevitably, overturns Roe v. Wade. What I care about is that reproductive freedom is under attack across the country, and it doesn’t matter what body parts you have or what gender you identify as if you are willing to participate in the destruction of these fundamental freedoms.
I’d be happier if every clerk was a guy if it meant my rights were secure. But that’s not a deal I get to make. Instead, we have to watch as Kavanaugh gets a gold star for diversity at the same time he’s part of a Court majority that systematically chips away at rights.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).
