Thread by @sfpelosi

Good! As many of us have long argued, Senators have state committees to vet candidates for judgeships. Making those panels more diverse - and making their lists more representative of the legal community, including public interest lawyers. Quick story ... thehill.com/regulation/cou…

When I was a new lawyer in the SF City Attorney’s Office, we would have a short daily staff meeting. We called it the “LA Law Meeting” after a popular TV show starring Corbin Bernsen, JimmySmits, Susan Dey etc. We would go over cases lawyers and judges to see who knew whom ...

and many more tones than not, the opposing counsel or judge was an old white man. 1990s SF Law was still Pale Stale & Male. So the attorneys would often say to me “these guys are tough on women - they treat women like daughters or exes - so play on that and be the daughter” ...

Or a senior attorney would offer to “introduce” me to the Old Boys.

I would get indignant “I’m a lawyer not their daughter! I represent the City ! This is BS!” Head in their hands they would respond “we know we KNOW we are just trying to get you through a hearing” ...

then one day at our LA Law Meeting a male Afro Latino attorney asked “well whose ex or daughter am I suppose to be?”

The room got very quiet.

We got different direction after that: condescension replaced with “go in with confidence. Try your own case.”

PS He is now a Judge.

US law school grads are majority women, people of color, openly LGBTQ. Diverse attorneys are no longer “the only one” aside from a clerk or bailiff. BUT if they aren’t welcomed as equals in court, or treated as worthy in LA Law meetings they will NEVER get to the federal bench...

So @JoeBiden was right to ask for judge candidates diverse in identity and experience. We can help by making sure our Senators have diverse legal committee to create more inclusive pipelines to power. Together we can make the judiciary more reflective and its rulings more just.