Whitey Ford
04-23-2020, 08:41 AM
Washington State Now Has the Most Diverse Supreme Court In History
“Being a black, gay, female, immigrant, disabled judge … my perspective is a little different,” said Justice Grace Helen Whitener.
https://i.imgur.com/0vBBTNJ.jpg
Donald Trump’s presidency has been a disaster for judicial diversity. His judges are overwhelmingly straight, white, and male. Many are wealthy corporate attorneys born into privileged American families whose connections guided them along a path to power. In other words, Trump judges do not look like the country they serve.
While the federal bench grows more homogeneous by the day, Democratic governors are diversifying their state judiciaries to an unprecedented degree. On Monday, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, elevated Grace Helen Whitener to the state Supreme Court. Whitener is a disabled black lesbian who immigrated from Trinidad. She joins Inslee’s two other appointees: Raquel Montoya-Lewis, a Jewish Native American who previously served on tribal courts, and Mary Yu, an Asian-American Latina lesbian who officiated the first same-sex marriages in the state.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/04/grace-helen-whitener-washington-supreme-court.html
“Being a black, gay, female, immigrant, disabled judge … my perspective is a little different,” said Justice Grace Helen Whitener.
https://i.imgur.com/0vBBTNJ.jpg
Donald Trump’s presidency has been a disaster for judicial diversity. His judges are overwhelmingly straight, white, and male. Many are wealthy corporate attorneys born into privileged American families whose connections guided them along a path to power. In other words, Trump judges do not look like the country they serve.
While the federal bench grows more homogeneous by the day, Democratic governors are diversifying their state judiciaries to an unprecedented degree. On Monday, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, elevated Grace Helen Whitener to the state Supreme Court. Whitener is a disabled black lesbian who immigrated from Trinidad. She joins Inslee’s two other appointees: Raquel Montoya-Lewis, a Jewish Native American who previously served on tribal courts, and Mary Yu, an Asian-American Latina lesbian who officiated the first same-sex marriages in the state.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/04/grace-helen-whitener-washington-supreme-court.html