This fall, three women will take their seats together on the bench for the first time in United States history.

This is a monumental achievement for women in the judiciary.  We extend our sincere gratitude to Senators Snowe and Collins for casting their votes in her favor just moments ago.

Welcome, Justice Kagan.

With these exciting announcements, four Republican Senators have now pledged their support of this groundbreaking nominee.

If Elena Kagan is confirmed as our next Supreme Court justice, she will be only the fourth woman to join the bench in the Court’s 221-year history.  What’s more, three women will take their seats on the Court for the first time in United States history.

We want to sincerely thank our Senators for their decisions.  When they cast their votes in support of Elena Kagan next week, this potential boost to women’s presence in the judiciary might become a reality.

The Committee passed the nomination along to the full Senate for a floor vote later this summer.

A full vote in the Senate is expected before the August recess.

If you haven’t already, you can get involved and ask Senators Snowe and Collins to confirm Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court.

Please take five minutes to urge Senators Snowe and Collins to put their full support behind President Obama’s nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court.

During her Supreme Court nomination hearings, Elena Kagan demonstrated her outstanding intellectual credentials, her independence of thought, and her strong respect for the rule of law — establishing herself beyond question as qualified and ready to serve on the Court. Read more here

Our own Charlotte Warren and Meghan Higgins had a chance to meet with Senator Snowe’s staff, yesterday, to discuss the nominee’s credentials. We passed along the following observations to the Senator.

• Elena Kagan’s record of public service demonstrates she has a keen intellect, and is impartial and fair. As a result, she has drawn broad support from across the political spectrum.
• She has described a judicial philosophy of restraint and repeatedly referenced her respect for precedent.
• Her coalition-building skills will be critical as an associate justice on such a closely divided Court.
• She brings a fresh perspective, breaking new ground as the first female Dean of Harvard Law School and the first woman Solicitor General of the United States. She would be the fourth justice on the nation’s highest Court, and if confirmed this fall, three women would take their seats together on the Court for the first time in history.
• She is superbly qualified with her legal acumen and capacity for thorough reasoning. She has Supreme Court experience both as a clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall and as an oral advocate for the United States Government.

A decision on her confirmation could be made in a matter of weeks.

You can read a comprehensive report of the Solicitor General’s testimony, here!

Want up-to-date news on SCOTUS and how you can be part of the process? Sign up here and be “in the know” when it comes to SCOTUS this summer.

In light of Elena Kagan’s recent nomination to the Supreme Court, let us take a moment to applaud the President in recognizing the dearth and importance of women’s representation on the bench. Since 1973, when the first female attorney was admitted to the bar, only five women have been nominated to the Supreme Court and only four have served. While women judges have made impressive strides in the past 137 years, it is clear that our nomination process has not always kept up. Overall, women comprise only 24.7% of sitting federal judges!

A women’s perspective is essential on the bench. In a 2009 USA TODAY article, Justice Ginsberg, at one point the sole woman on the Supreme Court, called for, “Women being in all places where decisions are being made…It shouldn’t be that women are the exception.” Her point is illustrated by disappointing decisions such as Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.; in reference to this case, Ginsburg further noted that, “I have no doubt that [Sandra Day O'Connor] would have understood Lilly Ledbetter’s situation.”

I am pleased to see that in our current administration, women are not the exception! We well know that 100% of Obama’s nominees to the Supreme Court have been women, but also impressive is the fact that 46.3% of President Obama’s nominees to the federal bench have been women, more than twice Bush’s meager 22%! That’s some serious progress!

*All of the facts and statistics from post were taken from an Alliance for Justice Report: A Snapshot of Women in the Judiciary as Three Women Poised to Sit on the Supreme Court of the United States.

Supreme Court nominee reflects the values of Maine people

Supreme Court nominee reflects the values of Maine people

Judge Sotomayor has the experience and empathy to do an excellent job on the high court.

SARAH STANDIFORD July 4, 2009

Maine’s interests would be well-served by confirming Judge Sonia Sotomayor to a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, the head of the Maine Women’s Lobby says.

HALLOWELL — How fitting that the Senate will open hearings on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor just days after our nation celebrates Independence Day.

What better way to honor the creation of our democracy than to confirm a nominee with a proven history of making decisions based on the Constitution and the rule of law?

The Senate should move swiftly to confirm Judge Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, for there is much at stake for Maine people – and Maine women in particular.

Courts protect our air and water, hold corporations accountable, ensure equal opportunity and fair pay, and safeguard our personal freedoms. These are decisions that will affect our everyday lives for decades to come. For that reason, it is critical that Maine people weigh in to support this nomination.

Fortunately, in Judge Sotomayor, President Obama has nominated someone who will be a strong voice to uphold the Constitution and the law. These values provide guidance on how the law works to ensure equal opportunity and equal justice for all.

Moreover, Judge Sotomayor’s record suggests that she is committed to providing equal justice and protecting personal freedoms for everyone in America – not just the wealthy and powerful.

No doubt there will be those who continue to oppose the nomination, but they will have a tough time proving their case. As has been widely observed, Judge Sotomayor is superbly qualified.

She has outstanding legal credentials and understands that upholding the rule of law means going beyond legal theory to ensure consistent, fair, common-sense application of the law to real-world facts.

In other words, as Maine Supreme Court Chief Justice Leigh Saufley said recently in the Kennebec Journal, “Every judge has to have the capacity to understand how the laws affect real people. This is not an academic exercise.”

Maine people can be assured of Judge Sotomayor’s understanding of the impact of her decisions on everyday Americans.

Moreover, if confirmed, Judge Sotomayor would bring more federal judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any justice in 100 years. She has been a prosecutor and a corporate litigator, a federal trial judge on the U.S. District Court, and an appellate judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

In fact, before she was promoted to the Second Circuit by President Clinton in 1998, Judge Sotomayor was appointed to the District Court for the Southern District of New York by President George H.W. Bush – a show of bipartisan support that proves good judging transcends political party.

President Obama recently spoke out against Judge Sotomayor’s few (but extremely vocal) detractors, saying, “I think she’s had a distinguished record on the bench and she should be entitled to fair hearings.”

I couldn’t agree more. After all, fairness is what this is all about. The Supreme Court needs more fair-minded members such as Judge Sotomayor, who is in the mainstream of American viewpoints and is not pushing a political agenda.

Judge Sotomayor is a highly qualified nominee who will keep faith with our constitutional values.

In Maine, citizens prize the values of independence and hard work above all. Justice Sotomayor’s compelling life story and record of fair-mindedness demonstrates commitment to these values, and to the personal freedoms of Maine people.

We urge Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and their colleagues to support Judge Sotomayor and ensure a fair confirmation process.

We also ask them to ensure that our Judge Sotomayor is appointed without delay, so that a new Supreme Court justice will have time to prepare and participate when the court confers in September and selects cases to be heard this year.

If the Senate votes based on Judge Sotomayor’s stellar record, there is every reason to believe she will have a new job by the time Labor Day rolls around.

That will truly be something for Maine people to celebrate.

Copyright © 2009 MaineToday Media, Inc.

Here is the link to the article online.