Women Of Color Have Dismal Representation As Supreme Court Advocates

And women in general are sorely missed at the high court, making less than a quarter of all appearances.

onOctober 2, 2019 at 3:47 PMOctober 2, 2019 at 2:24 PM

When I talk to my friends who are women of color about their clerkships, they can’t point to a single person who looks like them who has done this before. I think we’re losing talent before the court.

— Kelsi Corkran, a partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe and a former clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in comments made during a Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia panel discussion titled “Supreme Court Advocacy: Where are the Women?” In the last Supreme Court term, 31 of the 184 appearances were made by women (17 percent of all appearances). “I wish we could stop having to have these discussions,” lamented moderator Amy Howe, a reporter for SCOTUSblog.

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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.