A new Supreme Court justice in our future...

You've probably heard that Justice Souter is stepping down, apparently because he's sick of D.C. and wants to retire.

Souter is one of the so-called "liberal" justices, appointed by Bush I. He has been on the liberal side of most decisions... Whoever replaces Souter will hopefully be equally liberal (or, at least not a religious ideologue) so that we can hope for a re-aligning of the Supreme Court once Scalia and Thomas step down (which may never happen; I could see them staying until they die on the bench).

There's a lot of buzz surrounding Sonia Sotomayor as a potential nominee. I don't know much about her but all I can say is that I do hope we see a female person of color appointed.

Some may gristle at this idea, because it suggests that the person would "only" be selected because they are a woman. Turns out, you can be *both* qualified and a woman! What a revelation!

I got to meet Justice Sandra Day O'Connor recently and part of our conversation was about her nomination to the Supreme Court. At the time, Reagan (the beloved icon of the GOP) was insistent that if he were able to nominate someone to the Court, he would nominate a woman. Her name was on the shortlist of candidates and when she was offered the job, it was her HUSBAND who convinced her to take it. He gave up his successful law practice in Arizona to support her move to the Court.

Her appointment opened up countless possibilities for women in the legal profession. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done, but her appointment signaled a sea change in the perception of women lawyers and the respect they were afforded by their male counterparts.

Today most of the students in law school are women. When Justice O'Connor graduated at the TOP of her class at Stanford law school, not one firm would hire her. The only job she could find was as a paralegal sharing an office with a legal secretary. To this she said, "I was happy I had that job - I would have taken any job I could find!"

Our Supreme Court - and it's "ours," not Justice Scalia's, should reflect the diversity in society. In 2009, we should not continue to let old white men dictate their political agenda to us.

The more we can see women and people of color achieve positions at the highest level in our society the more we can hope that tolerance and progressive idealism will filter down to the masses.