Senate

Monday, the Senate confirmed Stephen Higginson to a judicial emergency seat on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Louisiana, by a vote of 88-0. Read more »

This Wednesday, November 2^nd, two subcommittees of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, headed by Senator Boxer and Senator Casey, are holding a hearing on “Women and the Arab Spring: Spotlight on Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.” The hearing will examine the critical role women have played in the Arab Spring, how they can continue to participate as these countries establish new governments, and what the United States can do to be supportive.

One key way for the U.S to show its support for these women’s efforts is for the Senate to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), a comprehensive women’s human rights treaty. One of CEDAW’s primary goals is to ensure that women are able to exercise the full rights of citizenship and emerge as leaders in their own societies. The United States is one of only six countries that have not yet ratified the treaty, putting it in the company of Iran, Somalia, Sudan and two small Pacific Islands. In many of the 187 countries that have ratified CEDAW, it has been used to reduce sex trafficking and domestic abuse; provide access to education and vocational training; ensure the right to vote; ensure the ability to work and own a business without discrimination; ensure inheritance rights; improve maternal health; and end forced marriage and child marriage. Read more »

Last week, Senate Republicans and two Democrats voted to block debate of the full American Jobs Act, even though 14 million Americans – 9.1 percent – are still looking for work. Now, the Obama Administration and Senator Harry Reid are looking to take up the Jobs Act one piece at a time to tackle our nation’s jobs deficit.

First up on the agenda is the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act. It’s a part of the American Jobs Act that particularly helps women, and it couldn’t have come sooner. Since the recovery began in June 2009, women have lost 264,000 jobs while men have gained 1.1 million jobs. The job-hemorrhaging public sector is primarily to blame for women’s dismal employment picture.

Local government education, a field which is three quarters women, lost more than 255,000 jobs since June 2009. So the $30 billion the Senate bill would provide to protect or create about 400,000 education jobs would be a boon to women’s employment, families’ economic security, and children’s education. Read more »

Yesterday evening, the Senate confirmed Cathy Bissoon to the Western District of Pennsylvania by a vote of 82-3. Judge Bissoon will be the first Hispanic woman to sit on this court. She is the ninth woman (and 11th judge) confirmed to the federal bench thus far in October, and the 54th woman confirmed during the Obama Administration.  All of which is terrific news, but news like this needs to keep on coming to make a real difference -- unfortunately, although women make up half the population and, for almost twenty years, close to half of law students, only a third of federal judges are women, and many, many fewer are women of color. We can do better. 

Likewise, it's encouraging that the Senate has taken action on eleven nominees this month, but with the number of judicial vacancies hovering around 90 (for a vacancy rate of almost 11 percent) there is still a long way to go. The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service determined that we are in the longest period of historically high vacancy rates in 35 years. And with 33 of the existing vacancies designated "judicial emergencies," more than 188 million people are living in a jurisdiction that has been declared a judicial emergency. Without enough judges to hear cases, people around the country are waiting for justice. As Senator Patrick Leahy said on the floor yesterday evening, the nominees who are currently pending on the floor would, if confirmed, serve about 170 million people in as many as 25 states. Read more »

The end of another week is upon us. It’s been testing at times, that’s for sure, but I promise that within this roundup are some encouraging stories mixed in with the not-so-happy ones. After the jump, more on National Coming Out Day, reflections on Anita Hill, the continued post-H.R. 358 onslaught, changing times in the UK, everyone’s favorite football-playing Homecoming Queen, and some awesome friendship in Congress. Read more »

Today, the Senate confirmed Alison Nathan and Katherine Forrest to be judges on the Southern District of New York, and Susan Owens Hickey to the Western District of Arkansas. That brings the total number of female active district court judges to 183 – or 30%. In addition, Judge Nathan will become the third openly gay judge on the Southern District of New York. We heartily celebrate the addition of these highly qualified women to the federal bench. Read more »

About a year ago, Justice Scalia was asked whether the Fourteenth Amendment, which prohibits the government from denying the equal protection of the laws, applies to sex discrimination. (Hint: in decades of jurisprudence, the Supreme Court has said that it does.) His answer was shocking. He said:

“Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn’t. Nobody ever thought that that’s what it meant. Nobody ever voted for that. If the current society wants to outlaw discrimination by sex, hey we have things called legislatures, and they enact things called laws.” Read more »

Yesterday, the Senate confirmed Jane Triche-Milazzo to the Eastern District of Louisiana. At this point, there are 231 women serving as active federal judges, which represents just under 30% of active judges on the federal bench. The Appellate Daily blog recently posted some nifty charts showing that although men make up 49% of the population, they represent 70% of the federal judiciary. In contrast, the representation of women and minorities on the federal bench is significantly lower than their representation in the population.  And unfortunately, some of these percentages haven’t budged for awhile. Read more »

The contrast couldn’t be more striking.

Today, the Senate is expected to address the most urgent deficit facing this country: the jobs deficit. Senators will vote tonight on the President’s plan to put people back to work and get the economy moving again. The plan would keep teachers and first responders on the job, invest in rebuilding our nation's infrastructure, provide job training, create incentives to hire the long-term unemployed, provide help for disadvantaged workers, extend emergency unemployment benefits, and prohibit discrimination against jobless workers.   Read more »

Yesterday, the Senate confirmed six judicial nominees, four of whom were women: Nannette Jolivette Brown to the Eastern District of Louisiana, Nancy Torresen to the District of Maine, Marina Garcia Marmolejo to the Southern District of Texas, and Jennifer Guerin Zipps to the District of Arizona. Not only did the confirmation of these women bring the total number of women confirmed to the federal bench during the Obama Administration to 50 (47% of all confirmed nominees), but two of these nominees broke glass ceilings in their jurisdictions – Judge Brown will be the first African-American woman on the Eastern District of Louisiana, and Judge Torreson will be the first woman to sit on the district court of Maine. Read more »