Women and Politics

This post was submitted by Jean Qiao, WCF communications fellow

It seems that our current political structure, which mirrors the old boys club, is a bit of a mess. It continually prevents women candidates from succeeding in elections. Political parties are turning against their own candidates on the basis of gender.

However, we now have the potential for a celebration amid the storm. The country’s highest court is about to receive more female company—and the timing could not be better.

According to the Huffington Post, President Obama is expected to announce Elena Kagan next Monday as his nominee to the Supreme Court, replacing retiring Justice Paul Stevens. Mike Allen from Politico says:

“The pick isn’t official, but top White House aides will be shocked if it’s otherwise. Kagan’s relative youth (50) is a huge asset for the lifetime post. And President Obama considers her to be a persuasive, fearless advocate who would serve as an intellectual counterweight to Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Scalia”.

Kagan currently serves as the 45th Solicitor General of the United States and is the first woman ever to hold this post. While there is limited information on her stance on issues due to her lack of ruling experience, her time on the Harvard Law Review indicates that she fiercely progressive on both women’s reproductive rights and LGBTQ equality.

Kagan represents the glimpse of hope that women in the political arena desperately need right now. Supreme Court appointees represent presidents long after they leave office.

In nominating a second woman to the Bench, President Obama will take his step to leave his progressive footprint on the court.

While the fight for gender equality in all branches of government is far from over, it will be nice to know that three of the nine most powerful decision makers in the country are women.

This post was submitted by Jean Qiao, WCF communications fellow

We all knew that President Obama could potentially impact the direction of the nation’s highest court. Clearly, Supreme Court justice nominees can define a Presidency, as we saw with George W. Bush and Justices Roberts and Alito…who would overturn Roe v. Wade in a heartbeat.

Luckily, we’re now seeing the second Supreme Court retirement under President Obama (though his nominee won’t change the Court’s ideological makeup): After weeks of suggesting his departure, this morning Justice Paul Stevens announced today that he will officially retire from the bench at the end of June. Justice Stevens is the longest-serving member of the current Supreme Court and has consistently voted in favor of progressive issues.

Wouldn’t it be nice if Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg had the company of another woman on the bench?

Good news, everyone. In their article about Justice Stevens, the Washington Post listed three people that are potentially on the short-list for nominees, and two of the candidates are women: Solicitor General Elena Kagan and appellate court Judge Diane P. Wood. In addition, Kagan is the first woman ever to hold the post of Solicitor General.

So this means there’s a 75% chance that the next Supreme Court Justice will be a woman? I like those odds, but let’s hope that President Obama will make that a reality. Replacing Justice Stevens with a progressive woman will ensure that our reproductive rights are protected (barely protected…but protected).

In a year where we endured multiple efforts by our socially conservative legislators to restrict our reproductive freedoms and throw women’s health under the bus, some support from the nation’s highest Court would be nice.

Adding another woman to the bench will keep us moving toward balancing out the extreme gender inequality in public office government—because we need more women in ALL branches of government.