Feminist Voices Count: President Chooses Woman for Supreme Court

By Lisa Bennett, Communications Director

May 29, 2009

When President Obama announced the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, NOW activists cheered. Sotomayor is the first Hispanic nominee to the high court, and, if confirmed, she would be just the third woman justice in the court's 220 year history. Her presence would raise the number of women currently serving on the high bench from one to two -- a meager number compared to the seven male justices, but a step in the right direction.

When Justice David Souter announced that he would be retiring from the court, NOW immediately launched its "Woman Justice NOW" campaign. We called on women's rights supporters to sign our petition urging Obama to name a woman to the court to join Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Thousands of you signed the petition, and we brought those signatures to the White House just five days before the president's announcement. Did feminist voices make a difference? We think so.

Justice Ginsburg's recent comments surely helped. Ginsburg has said that she can't help but wonder what people think when they visit the court and see only one woman out of the nine justices. "There I am all alone, and it doesn't look right," said Ginsburg, noting that women bring a life experience to the court that men can't.

The recent Supreme Court decision in AT&T Corp. v. Hulteen et al. further illustrates why more women's voices belong on our nation's highest bench. Seven of the nine justices ruled that employers may deny women credit for pregnancy leaves taken prior to the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act when calculating their pension benefits.

Justice Ginsburg (joined by Justice Breyer) wrote in her dissent: "The plaintiffs (now respondents) in this action will receive, for the rest of their lives, lower pension benefits than colleagues who worked for AT&T no longer than they did."

In her conclusion, Ginsburg noted: "Certain attitudes about pregnancy and childbirth, throughout human history, have sustained pervasive, often law-sanctioned, restrictions on a woman's place among paid workers and active citizens."

This is not the first time the Robert's Court ruled against women who have been impacted by pay discrimination. Justice Ginsburg has been a consistent champion for women, demonstrating a much needed understanding of the discrimination women face in the workplace and in society at large. She sure could use a similarly-minded ally on the court.

Thousands of you joined NOW in calling on President Obama to weigh heavily the gender imbalance on the court when making his nominee decision. And the president delivered, with an extremely impressive, experienced, highly-respected nominee who is also a Latina. Sotomayor's life experiences as a woman of color from a low-income family offer a perspective sorely lacking on the court - a court that should reflect the proud diversity of our nation if it is to stand for equality and justice for all.

NOW thanks everyone who signed the petition -- your voices do count.