The Quality of Justice

The Quality of Justice

The Honorable Sandra Day O'Connor* Associate Justice

Supreme Court of the United States

... We all can be proud that we are "members" •of the Ninth Circuit, whether as circuit justice, judge, magistrate, employee, or practitioner. The Ninth Circuit Gender Bias Task Force was the first federal task force formed to study the effects of gender in the judicial system, and it has produced a comprehensive, well-supported report. A couple of years ago, I gave a speech in which I discussed the exist ence of a glass ceiling for women. The next day, headlines and news paper articles trumpeted my statements as if I had made a surprising new discovery. But it is now 1992, and I don't think most of us were surprised to learn that the Task Force found the existence of gender bias in a federal circuit. After all, over 20 state. task forces already have found gender bias in their judicial systems.

Gender bias can affect men and women, judges, coµrt personnel, lawyers, litigants, and witnesses. You may have read about its recent effect on a female lawyer in New York when she tried to make an objection at a deposition. Her male opponent asked someone to "tell that little mouse over th.ere to pipe down" and refused to.address her. (The "mouse," by the way, fought back. Styling herself the "little mouse that roared," she filed a motion under a New York state law prohibiting such conduct, and her opponent was fined $500.)

Without denigrating the effects on individuals