Intersecting Identities: Gender, Race, and the Politics of Supreme Court Nominations

Thursday, March 3, 2022 NYU Law’s Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network; Law Alumni of Color Association; Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law; Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging; American Constitution Society; Black Allied Law Students Association; Women of Color Collective; and Law Women organized a panel discussion on the pending Supreme Court nomination and confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. The dynamic panel of experts discussed Judge Jackson's nomination and addressed questions including: Why are diversity and representation so central to the current nomination conversation? How do jurists’ identities and backgrounds inform their work on the bench? What other measures of diversity on the Court should we be talking about? How have critics used gender and race to distract from conversations about potential nominees’ qualifications? And how might Judge Jackson’s confirmation shift the overall dynamics on the Court in years to come? Panelists *Melissa Murray (Welcome Remarks), Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law; Faculty Director, Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network, NYU Law *Alicia Menendez (Moderator), Journalist; Anchor, American Voices with Alicia Menendez *Debo Adegbile ’94, Partner, WilmerHale; Commissioner, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights *Aimee Allison, Founder and President, She the People *Tiffany Gardner ’01, CEO, ReflectUS