Courts

Solicitor General Calls Out Stunning Lack Of Women Arguing Supreme Court Cases

This court is going to hear from 27 advocates in this sitting of the oral argument calendar and two are women even though women today are 50 percent or more of law school graduates. And I think it would be reasonable for a woman to look at that and wonder, is that a path that’s open to me, to be a Supreme Court advocate?

— U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, commenting on gender inequality in the legal profession in an exchange earlier this week with Justice Brett Kavanaugh, during oral argument in the affirmative action cases before the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh wondered how we could measure progress toward diversity, and Prelogar cited demographics, specifically noting that wide gaps in legal representation, like the example she used concerning female SCOTUS advocates, can be harmful. “Are private clients willing to hire women to argue their Supreme Court cases?” she asked. “When there’s that kind of gross disparity in representation, it can matter and it’s common sense.”

---

Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.