And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: Thu, 10 Dec 1998 17:28:37 EST >Subject: Fwd: Justices Defend Minority Hiring >X-Mailer: AOL 4.0 for Windows 95 sub 214 > > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Return-path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Justices Defend Minority Hiring >Date: Thu, 10 Dec 1998 17:04:30 EST >Mime-Version: 1.0 >Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII >Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit > >Justices Defend Minority Hiring > >.c The Associated Press > > By LAURIE ASSEO > >WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two Supreme Court justices defended the court's record on >hiring minority and female law clerks, telling high school students Thursday >that the justices do the best they can in choosing from qualified applicants. > >``We do not discriminate here on the basis of gender or race or anything >else,'' Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said during an hour-long session with >students from three high schools. ``We try to get the best we can.'' > >Justice Stephen G. Breyer said it will take time to build the pool of >qualified minority applicants. ``But even if you look at the numbers you can >see how it's changing,'' he added. > >O'Connor and Breyer met in an elegant court conference room with students from >Benjamin Banneker High School of Washington and Mt. Vernon High School of >Alexandria, Va. Students from Sandra Day O'Connor High School in Austin, >Texas, participated by satellite hookup, and the session was televised live on >C-SPAN 2. > >O'Connor told the students she did not think the high court's daily routine >would be disrupted if President Clinton is impeached and goes on trial in the >Senate, where Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist would preside. > >Senate trial proceedings might not begin until the afternoons, she said, >adding, ``So, presumably a little work could take place in the mornings'' at >the Supreme Court. > >One of the students asked O'Connor and Breyer about the ``lack of diversity'' >among the court's law clerks. > >The NAACP and others have accused the court in recent months of hiring too few >minorities and women as clerks. The clerks help the justices screen new cases, >do research and draft opinions. USA Today reported that blacks make up less >than 2 percent of the 428 law clerks hired by the court's current nine >justices during their tenures and that fewer than 25 percent of those clerks >have been women. > >In a recent letter to three black members of Congress, Rehnquist rejected >calls for discussion of the issue with minority bar groups. > >Each justice hires his or her own clerks independently, O'Connor told the high >school students. > >``I've had clerks of different races,'' O'Connor said. ``I have had black >clerks, I have had Asian clerks, I have had Hispanic clerks, I've had Indian- >Americans, Latvian Americans, Ukrainian Americans. You name it, I've had them >and I try to hire a great many female clerks.'' > >Breyer said the lower number of minority clerks reflects ``a world in which >there has been considerable underprivilege, and that underprivilege is >something that has to be corrected over time.'' > >He said he has hired minorities among the 10 men and 10 women he has chosen as >clerks over the past four years. > >One student asked the justices which past high court cases they would like to >have participated in. > >Breyer named the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education case that ended school >segregation, noting that he and O'Connor ``can remember a time when actually >the law required segregation of the races.'' > >The Brown ruling ``was nine people thinking the law could perhaps change the >habits of more than 90 million people,'' Breyer added. ``Would you like to be >involved in that? Sure.'' > >O'Connor mentioned the 1803 Marbury vs. Madison decision that established the >court's authority to declare federal laws unconstitutional. > >The two justices explained to the students how the high court works, from a >decision to hear a case, through written briefing, oral arguments and a >ruling. > >The justices often disagree strongly when they meet in private conference to >discuss cases, Breyer said. However, he added, ``I have never heard a voice >raised in anger.'' > >Asked what the court will be like in the next century, O'Connor said it will >work much as it does now, although the legal issues may be different. > >``Whatever the nation's concerns will be in the next century, those concerns >will be reflected'' in the cases before the court, she said. > >AP-NY-12-10-98 1704EST > > Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP >news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise >distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press. > > > >To edit your profile, go to keyword <A HREF="aol://1722:NewsProfiles"> >NewsProfiles</A>. >For all of today's news, go to keyword <A HREF="aol://1722:News">News</A>. > &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment ...http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ `"` `"` `"` `"` `"` `"`