First Monday in October (a day late)

The Supreme Court began its new term yesterday, with the arrival of Sonia Sotomayor, the newest Justice. She joins Ruth Bader Ginsburg as one of two women among the nine members of the Court. This still seems to me like too few women.

I was privileged to work at the Supreme Court in 1981, and was there when Ronald Reagan appointed Sandra Day O’Connor to be the first woman to serve on the Court.  Then-Judge O'Connor came to the Court for introductions and I got to shake her hand, a moment I will always remenber.   I was very pleased to see that barrier broken and thought it would be the beginning of a major change towards greater representation of women in the judicial branch. But 28 years later, there have only been three female justices.

We recently saw Hilary Clinton run a close campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, we have a woman serving as Speaker of the House, and California has (indeed, has had for many years) two women in the United States Senate. Now Justice Sotomayor pushes that divide one step further.

As the father of two daughters, I keep hoping for more.