The Silent Minority: An Examination of Female Justices of the Supreme Court During Oral Argument.
Howe, Caroline H.
2014
- Abstract: My study seeks to recognize and substantiate the value of gender diversity on Supreme Court jurisprudence. Specifically, I explored the impact of female Justices on oral argument, from the behavior and treatment of the Justices to the content of their arguments. Using cases from the first two terms of each of the four female Justices who have served on the Court, I studied both the behavior ... read moreand treatment of those Justices in order to better understand the dynamics of the Court in which they exist. I then studied the insertion of their perspectives into the oral arguments of gender cases. Much of their behavior on the Court, from the amount that they speak to the number of times they are interrupted, exhibits their confidence and willingness to engage with their colleagues. The presence of many “perspective statements” throughout the broad swath of gender cases I examined also demonstrates that female Justices are unafraid to link their identity with their speech when it comes to gender cases. My study demonstrates that a value does lie in the specific contribution of women to the Court. The white, male lens should not be considered a neutral perspective, but instead one among many perspectives that can contribute to a better understanding of the impact of our laws on the individual rights of our citizenry. The increased representation of women on the Supreme Court, and on every court, will make huge strides towards ensuring the representation of those interests in the laws of our country.read less
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- t435gq59j
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- tufts:sd.0000138
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