A14 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.
BY AMBER PHILLIPS
For almost all of its history, the U.S. Supreme Court has been
made up of White men.
President Biden has promised to nominate a Black woman to
the court for the first time, to replace retiring Justice Stephen G.
Breyer. She would be only the eighth person in the court’s
233-year history who was not a White man.
A number of Senate Republicans have pushed back against
Biden’s promise specifically to add a Black woman to the court,
saying she would simply be a beneficiary of affirmative action
rather than chosen because of her qualifications.How Supreme Court diversity
has shaped American life
In the institution’s 233-year history of deciding Americans’ basics rights,
only seven justices — so far — have been anything other than a White manBut only modern presidents have placed a premium on racial
and gender diversity when nominating lifelong appointees to the
Supreme Court — a stark reality visible in the court’s class photos.
The result is that the interpretations of Americans’ rights — for
instance, the right to have a lawyer, the right to abortion,
protection against gender-based discrimination — have been
made almost exclusively by White men.
This lack of representation has led to some controversial
decisions in modern times, such as the court’s allowing police to
stop and frisk a person on the suspicion that the person might be
involved in a crime, or not closing the door entirely to discrimi-
nating against women in the hiring process.In 2013, the Supreme Court knocked down a portion of a
federal law designed to protect Black voters from discrimination
at the polls, and this year, it declined to stop an abortion ban in
Texas from going into effect. And on Monday, it decided to let
stand an Alabama congressional map that a lower court said
should have included more majority-Black districts.
Diversity has trickled into the court in modern times, and there
are indications that it has made a difference, such as when the court
allowed a state to ban Confederate flag license plates and cross
burning, rejecting free-speech arguments. Sometimes, the impact of
diversity rippled out from a fiery dissent by a justice that animatedminority groups and helped drive a political conversation.
“We wouldn’t have had many of the rights we have today,
maybe most of them, if it wasn’t for White men,” said Lisa
Soronen, an analyst of the court and executive director of the
State and Local Legal Center, which supports states and local
governments in cases before the Supreme Court.
“Every person of color and woman is relieved we’re no longer in
a world where we have to rely on White men and their generosity.”
Here are some examples of how the few instances of racial and
gender diversity on the Supreme Court have made tangible
changes to American life.CHARLES MILTON BELL/COLLECTION OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
The Supreme Court as it was comprised from 1906 to 1909.Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
In one of the most famous Supreme Court cases, the justices
unanimously ruled that segregating children in public
schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional.Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
In a 5-to-4 decision, the Supreme Court decided that those
detained by police should be informed of their constitutional
rights before being interrogated.Terry v. Ohio (1968)
The court held that the controversial police practice of
stopping and frisking someone suspected of wrongdoing
does not violate that person’s constitutional protections.P hillips v. Martin Marietta Corp. (1971)
The all-male Supreme Court decided that it was
unconstitutional to hire men with young children but not
women with young children. But the ruling did not entirely
close the door on gender discrimination.R oe v. Wade (1973)
Another landmark women’s rights case decided entirely by
men established a constitutional right to have an abortion,
until the fetus would be viable outside of the womb.B owers v. Hardwick (1986)
The court, including Justice Lewis Powell, upheld sodomy
bans. A well-told story is that Powell told one of his clerks that
he had never met a homosexual, according to University of
Texas law professor Stephen Vladeck. That clerk was gay.
(Bowers was overturned in 2003.)