Race and gender replaced religion as Supreme Court appointment concerns

Evidence

If region has declined in importance, demographic characteristics have increased. During the early twentieth century, a concern with religious representation led to identifiable Catholic and Jewish seats on the Court. By the late twentieth century, however, race and gender were the major concerns. In 1967, President Lyndon Johnson appointed Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to serve on the Court. When Marshall retired in 1991, President George Bush took into consideration the concern for black representation on the Court when he named Justice Clarence Thomas as Marshall’s replacement. In 1980, while campaigning for the presidency, Ronald Reagan pledged to appoint a woman to the Court, and he fulfilled that promise a year later by naming Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Bill Clinton also chose a woman, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as his first appointee to the Court. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 532

Categorization

• XREF: Links to course themes on how representational values shape judicial selection; connects to O’Connor and Ginsburg milestones covered elsewhere in legal history courses. — connects to: Race and gender replaced region as top demographic factors in Supreme Court appointments — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 532; Courts constructed whiteness on shifting criteria including religion. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 183; Ideology has replaced patronage in appeals court selection since recent decades (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Race and gender replaced region as top demographic factors in Supreme Court appointments #qualifies (0.78) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 532
• Courts constructed whiteness on shifting criteria including religion. #complicates (0.74) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 183
• Ideology has replaced patronage in appeals court selection since recent decades #expands (0.72)
• Race became a secular theology as scientific authority replaced religious justification #expands (0.72) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1345