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PRESS RELEASES
CRACKER BARRELSHIKLES vs MAYTAGU S SUPREME COURTU S GOVERNMENTPRAYERWHATS U S TRIBAL ROLESLAMMING GATESMEN IN BLACKFLORIDA HIGH COURTSMACYS RULINGBIG FIGHTPOWER WINS BIG|
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| U.S. SUPREME COURT RECORD SHAMEFUL |
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| U.S. SUPREME COURT RECORD SHAMEFUL WHEN IT COMES TO HIRING MINORITY LAW CLERKS October 4, 1999 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kweisi Mfume, President & CEO, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), today called on the U.S. Supreme Court to expand the number of potential applicants for law clerk positions at the Court to include more qualified ethnic minorities and women. "If the Supreme Court, the nation’s highest court, was a private company, it would be guilty of discrimination," said Mfume. "The Court has the responsibility to interpret the nation’s equal employment laws, and those laws should apply to the Court itself. The Court’s hiring record is shameful." At a press conference outside of the Court, Mfume once again called on Chief Justice William Rehnquist to make the Court a model for equal opportunity. In a letter delivered to the Supreme Court on Thursday, the NAACP asked Rehnquist for a meeting with all nine Justices to discuss ways to expand the number of qualified minority law clerks. In addition to Mfume, the letter was signed by Harold D. Pope, president, the National Bar Association; Lillian Apodaca, president, Hispanic National Bar Association; Lawrence Baca, president, Native American Bar Association; Peter Suzuki, president, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association; and Patricia Ireland, president, National Organization for Women. Last year Mfume led more than 1000 protestors, including numerous national civil rights, trade, religious, and legal advocacy groups, in a demonstration outside of the Court protesting the dearth of minority law clerks. Several demonstrators, including Mfume, were arrested. "Chief Rehnquist has been on the Court since 1972 and during that time he has hired no African American, one Hispanic and no Asian American law clerks. In 28 years on the Court, he has compiled the worse hiring record when it comes to law clerks," said Mfume. Of the 462 law clerks hired by the current Justices, only nine (less than 2%) were African American; five were Hispanic (1.1%); 18 were Asian American (4.5%); and 105 (25%) were women. Presently, minorities represent nearly 20 percent of law school graduates and women make up 40 percent. This year, of the 34 law clerks hired, five are minority, including two African Americans and three Asian Americans. No Hispanic law clerks were hired. The Court has never hired a Native American law clerk in its’ 200 year history. Supreme Court law clerks play an important role in the Court’s operation. They help determine which cases the Justices will consider and they write the first drafts of most decisions. The vast majority of cases filed with the Court are disposed of without any Justice ever seeing the legal papers that make the arguments for and against a case being heard. While the Justices themselves determine how they will vote, the clerks usually put in all the reasoning. "It’s good that the Court heard us last year and hired five minority law clerks for the 1999-2000 term, but this by no means is a giant step in the right direction," said Mfume. "Does this mean there was no Hispanic and no Native American law school graduate qualified to be a Supreme Law Clerk? I find that hard to believe." Mfume said one way for the Justices to increase the pool of qualified applicants is to expand the academic sources for law clerks. Most of the clerks continue to come from predominately Ivy League law schools. Mfume said the Justices should also look to applicants from historically black law schools and public law schools. Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first African American member of the Court, was graduated from a historically black Howard Law School. Mfume urged Congress to pass the House resolution introduced by Rep. Gregory Meeks (D.NY) that calls on the Court to adhere to fair labor standards in hiring. He also urged passage of the Judicial Branch Employment Nondiscrimination Act introduced by Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D.IL.) that calls for extending non-discriminatory hiring practices to the judicial branch of the government. In addition to the NAACP, other prominent civil rights and legal organizations represented at today’s press conference included the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, Organization of Chinese Americans and the National Black Law Students Association. Founded in 1909, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its half-million adult and youth members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter registration drives and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: John White or Sheila Douglas, NAACP, 410-486-9227 |
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