Elizabeth Warren Speaks about Judicial Diversity | Streaming Live at 9:30 AM EST

[n2doc]

6/14 - The Brennan Center is co-sponsoring a panel in Washington, D.C. on the need for judges who bring a wide variety of life experiences to the bench.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (MA – D) will deliver the keynote address. A panel discussion will follow, with Judge Nancy Gertner (Ret.) and Sherrilyn Ifill, President of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Nan Aron, President of The Alliance for Justice, will moderate.

stream at link
http://www.brennancenter.org/broadening-the-bench

[Laelth]

1. k&r for Elizabeth Warren. n/t

-Laelth

[Nye Bevan]

2. Meh. If someone is a good judge, I don't care about their life story.

Ted Kennedy was brought up in extreme privilege, while Sarah Palin had humble beginnings. Who would you prefer to see on the Supreme Court?

[MannyGoldstein]

5. Perhaps economic status does not determine suitability as a judge

But lack of diversity will likely reduce the judiciary's ability to make good decisions for Americans of all backgrounds.

[Nye Bevan]

7. Again, overrated. Clarence Thomas or John Kerry? You pick (nt)

[MannyGoldstein]

9. So your point is that all minorities and poor people are bad?

If not, what is your point?

[MannyGoldstein]

3. Nancy Gertner is cool

Sounds like a great panel!

[Le Taz Hot]

4. Kick.

Thank you! I loves me some Elizabeth Warren.

[ProSense]

6. Excellent. From

Twitter

Obama nom, Darrin Gayles, would be 1st gay black man on fed bench. Watch 9am #BroadenTheBench livestream w @SenWarren http://bit.ly/1nTvHqH

https://twitter.com/EDLesh/status/431431952659664896

More: https://twitter.com/search?q=%23BroadenTheBench&src=typd

[Le Taz Hot]

8. Incredible speech!

Talking about how 72% of the appellate judiciary comes from large law firms representing only monied interests and that Obama's choices have been no better.

[MannyGoldstein]

10. A very, very difficult woman

Let's get her out of the Senate. In about 3 years.

[Le Taz Hot]

12. I think so too!

And, she needs to relocate. Somewhere a little further south.

[ProSense]

11. Senator Warren mentioned Edward Chen

On August 7, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Chen to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California vacated by the resignation of Martin Jenkins.[4]

On October 15, 2009, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-7 in a party-line vote to send Chen's nomination to the full Senate.[6][7]

On December 24, 2009, the U.S. Senate returned Chen's nomination to the president. Senator Feinstein in an interview published in the San Francisco Chronicle on December 29, 2009 reiterated her support for Judge Chen and her hope that the President would renominate Judge Chen for the U.S. District Court.[8] President Obama renominated Chen in January 2010, and the Senate Judiciary Committee approved his nomination on February 4, 2010.[6] On August 5, 2010, the U.S. Senate again returned Chen's nomination for failure to confirm.[9] President Obama renominated Chen to the seat on September 13, 2010 and again on January 5, 2011.[10]

On May 10, 2011, Chen was confirmed in a 56–42 vote.[1] He received his judicial commission on May 12, 2011.

Issues with his judicial nomination[edit]

The Los Angeles Times reported that Republicans had issues with the fact that judicial nominee Chen had previous connections to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), asserting based on a second instance that this appeared to be a thread running through Obama's nominations.[11][12] The Washington Times asserted that judicial confirmation had become a traditional partisan political battle for control of the courts and predicted that Chen would be confirmed.[13]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_M._Chen

This is how the Senate has been operating.

Democrats should take advantage of the new rules and confirm as many judicial nominees as possible in 2014.

[ProSense]

13. Here is the AFJ report:

BROADENING THE BENCH: Professional Diversity and Judicial Nominations

<...>

So far in 2014, the outlook on nominations is bright. With his first judicial nominations of the year, President Obama has already taken a positive step toward increasing professional diversity. On January 16, the President nominated four lawyers to fill district court vacancies in Illinois, Washington, Missouri, and Nevada. All four have professional backgrounds that are currently underrepresented among federal judges: two have substantial plaintiff-side trial experience, one is a former public defender, and one is a state court judge who was previously a solo practitioner focused on criminal defense.9 With just under three years left in President Obama’s Administration, there will be ample opportunity to turn these promising nominations into the norm, rather than the exception.

II. Current Statistics: Professional Diversity and President Obama’s Judicial Nominees

This section sets forth comprehensive professional diversity statistics for President Obama’s judicial nominations, divided into five parts: (A) civil public interest and public service advocacy; (B) criminal law; (C) private practice; (D) state and federal judges; and (E) overall professional diversity statistics.

- more -

http://www.afj.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Professional-Diversity-Report-020514.pdf

AFJ Report: Senate rules reform opens the door to more professional diversity among federal judges
http://www.afj.org/press-room/press-releases/afj-report-senate-rules-reform-opens-the-door-to-more-professional-diversity-among-federal-judges

Charts and tons of statistics in the PDF.