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Saturday, October 06, 2007

Ind. Courts - "Few women in Indiana are appointed to high judiciary posts"

The ILB has had numerous entries pointing to the small number of women on the Indiana bench. Most recently, the fact that Indiana was the only state high court without a woman justice headed several entries.

Today, Cynthia A. Sequin of the Indiana Business Journal has this lengthy story headed "Is justice blind? Few women in Indiana are appointed to high judiciary posts." Some quotes:

Indiana is the only state in the country that has not had a Caucasian woman serve on its Supreme Court, and Indiana and Idaho are the only states that do not currently have any women on their highest court.

Myra C. Selby, now a partner with Indianapolisbased law firm Ice Miller LLP, is the only woman to have served as a justice on the Indiana Supreme Court. She was named in 1995 to serve on the court by Gov. Evan Bayh, causing the justices’ chambers to be remodeled to accommodate a women’s restroom for the first time in its 191-year history. She left the court in 1999 but remains involved by chairing the Indiana Supreme Court Commission on Race and Gender Fairness.

“When I was on the court I can remember when third- and fourth-grade students would come to tour the chambers and the girls would ask ‘Where are the girls?’” Selby said. “Everywhere they looked they would see photo after photo of men. I looked at it as an opportunity to ask them what they wanted in life and to encourage them to see themselves in leadership roles when they grow up.” * * *

Patricia A. Riley is one of four women who serve as a judge on the Indiana Court of Appeals and is an adjunct professor at IU’s law school here. She earned her law degree here after getting her undergraduate degree in Bloomington. She worked at different times as a prosecuting attorney and public defender in Marion County.

“I always wanted to be a lawyer, and I became one in 1974,” Riley said. She was the only female in her class back then. While times have changed, “unfortunately being a woman is still an issue—I haven’t seen it as a plus yet!” she said. “Until we place women in … leadership roles it will be an issue.”

Riley said it is difficult to quantify the subtle bias that women face.

“We can look at the data, though,” she said. “Women still don’t get pay equal to men, more men than women are put on the ‘partner track’ in law firms, more men are made partners and there aren’t enough women serving as judges.” She hopes these issues will steer her own sons as they begin their legal careers.

ILB readers may also remember the Q & A from last year, where this question was asked of the Supreme and Appellate Court judges up to retention last November:
There are no women on the 5-member Indiana Supreme Court (and there has been only one woman on the Court in its history). There are only four women (of 15) on the Court of Appeals. Minorities are poorly represented on both courts. Any thoughts?
The judges/justices decided to answer with a collective response, available here, as the last item.

All eight Q & A may be accessed here. The Q & A is accompanied by a list of those participating in the collective response:

"Every jurist who received a questionnaire has elected to participate in the responses: from the Court of Appeals -- Chief Judge James S. Kirsch, Judge Terry A. Crone, Judge Ezra H. Friedlander, Judge Edward W. Najam Jr. and Judge Patricia A. Riley; from the Supreme Court -- Justice Frank Sullivan Jr.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 6, 2007 04:00 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts