Diversity News

Justice at Stake hailed the appointment of Steven Gonzalez to the Washington Supreme Court, where he has become the first Mexican American justice to serve in the state’s history. Read Gavel Grab for more. 

Retiring Indiana Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard vowed to "beat the bushes" in efforts to get a diverse list of nominees for the all-male court's new vacancy. Learn more from Gavel Grab.

A federal appeals court Monday extended its decision to seal the videos of last year's same-sex marriage trial while it decides whether releasing the recordings would enhance the public's right to know about the legal system or endanger witnesses who favored Proposition 8. Read more...

The Pennsylvania Interbranch Commission for Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness has found that fewer minorities are employed as court personnel in comparison to the general population of minorities. Read more...

Cleo Elaine Powell broke new ground Friday when she was formally sworn in as the first African-American woman on the 232-year-old Virginia Supreme Court. Read more...

President Obama is the first White House occupant in history who hasn’t picked a majority of white male judges for lifetime appointments on the federal bench. For more, see Gavel Grab. 

Goodwin Liu, who could not get an up-or-down Senate vote on his U.S. appeals court nomination for more than a year, won confirmation to the California Supreme Court after what Liu called "a mere 36 days." Check out Gavel Grab.

In one week the New York Times has published hard-hitting editorials on the state court funding crisis, ABA recusal guidelines and religious intolerance toward a Muslim judge nominee. See Gavel Grab for more.

David Boies and Ted Olson, lead attorneys in the American Foundation for Equal Rights' federal challenge to Proposition 8, accepted the American Bar Association Medal today. It is the organization's highest honor.
 

The question in the title of this post is prompted by this new piece in the New York Times, which is headlined "For Obama, a Record on Diversity but Delays on Judicial Confirmations."  Here is how the piece starts:

President Obama  made history when he nominated Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court. He did it again with his second nominee, Elena Kagan, raising the number of women on the nation’s highest court to three.

President Obama is getting good marks for his nominations that have brought greater diversity to the federal bench. Yet there’s also a cost, some observers say. See Gavel Grab for details.

N.J. Gov. Chris Christie assailed as “crazies” some legislators who targeted Sohail Mohammed, Christie’s nominee for a Superior Court seat. See Gavel Grab for more.

Mecklenburg County court officials, including Chief District Judge Lisa Bell and members of the District Attorney's office, took part in diversity training Tuesday led by the Mexican Consulate of Raleigh.
 

Nearly one in four of Iowa's trial-level judges will become eligible toretire with full pensions over the next five years, potentially openingthe door for more women and minorities to join the state's mostly whiteand male judiciary.

Remarks Prepared for the 2011 American Association of Law Libraries Conference by Deanna Dawson, Director of Federal Affairs & Diversity Initiatives, Justice at Stake, July 25, 2011, Philadelphia, PA.

Wednesday’s hearings on a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act will include two marriage equality opponents, according to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s website.

The confirmation of J. Paul Oetken, the first openly gay man to be named a U.S. District Court judge, is a historic step toward a diverse federal judiciary, Justice at Stake said.  

The Senate has voted overwhelmingly, and with little fanfare, to confirm corporate lawyer J. Paul Oetken as the first openly gay man to sit on the U.S. District Court. Check out Gavel Grab for more.

J. Paul Oetken, a former Clinton administration lawyer, on Monday became the first openly gay man to be confirmed as a federal judge.

Since mid-February, the government's approach to laws or government practices that classify people based on their sexual orientation has changed significantly. The impact of that change is no more clear than is seen by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit's response to a government brief -- about jury selection -- filed with the court on Feb. 17.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A federal appeals court that has called for the immediate halt of the military's ban on openly gay troops issued an order Monday requiring the U.S. government to state whether it will continue to defend the policy's constitutionality in court.

(New Orleans, July 11, 2011)—Today Lambda Legal filed a petition for a writ of certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case of a same-sex couple seeking an accurate birth certificate for their Louisiana-born son whom they adopted in New York. The state of Louisiana has refused to recognize the adoption and issue a birth certificate listing both fathers as the boy's parents.

President Obama has nominated two HRC-endorsed and openly-gay individuals to the Federal Tax Court: Albert Lauber and Judge Joseph Gale. Both Mr. Lauber and Judge Gale are extremely well-qualified to serve on the U.S. Tax Court, the principal court for resolution of tax disputes between taxpayers and the Federal government. In a statement following the nomination of Mr. Lauber and Judge Gale, President Obama remarked that he was proud to nominate both men and praised their “unwavering integrity and a firm commitment to public service throughout their careers.”

Voters on and around Madison’s East Side are spoiled with six strong choices for state Assembly.