And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Sent by Jim Oyler..thanks,,Ish http://www.newsday.com/ap/rnmpwh1c.htm More Diversity at Court Called For By PAUL SHEPARD Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court would be found guilty of discrimination if it were a private company, the president of the NAACP said Monday as he and others representing minorities and women's groups urged greater diversity in the justices' hiring of law clerks. ``We don't come here asking for quotas. We want equal opportunity,'' said NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, who was joined at a news conference by members of Hispanic, American Indian, Asian and women's legal groups. ``People of good will understand this hypocrisy must end on the Supreme Court,'' Mfume said as the court began its new term. ``If the court were a private company, it would have been found guilty long ago of racial discrimination.'' Lawrence Baca, president of the Native American Bar Association, said that though the Supreme Court has never had a Native American clerk, his people are disproportionately affected by high court decisions involving tribal lands. ``You tell us how high the bar is and we will find you a native American law student who will top that bar,'' Baca said. The call for more diversity among law clerks comes at a time when the class of clerks has more black and brown faces than any other in recent memory. Among the new class of 35 law clerks working for the highest court's nine justices are five minority clerks -- two blacks and three Asian-Americans. Last year's class included one, a Hispanic. But Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., D-Ill., said the justices could easily slip again into all-white hiring patterns. ``We should not annually rely on good faith efforts of individual justices,'' Jackson said. Prior to this year's class, of the 428 clerks hired over time by the nine current justices, less than 2 percent have been black, 1 percent were Hispanic and less than 5 percent Asian-American. Those statistics led to a noisy protest last year on the court's front steps during which 19 people were arrested. Chief Justice William Rehnquist is again being asked to meet with coalition members to discuss the situation. Last year, Rehnquist rebuffed a similar meeting request. Supreme Court clerks wield influence in discussions with justices on pending cases and crafting early drafts of opinions. And since many court rulings affect racially charged issues such as affirmative action and immigration rights, civil rights advocates say greater input from minorities is needed for fairness. AP-NY-10-04-99 1541EDT Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ UPDATES: CAMP JUSTICE http://shell.webbernet.net/~ishgooda/oglala/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
