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Quote by Deborah Rhode

“There's a sorry history of these kinds of charges of bias being leveled at women and judges of color, and also gay and lesbian judges. The theory being that they're going to be incapable of a disinterested judgment on matters that involve their own identity groups. And it came up famously for Constance Baker Motley who was one of the first African American federal judges in a case involving sex discrimination.”

Quote by Deborah Rhode

Author

Deborah Rhode is an esteemed law professor known for her contributions to the field of gender and law studies. Born on January 29, 1952, she has been a professor at Stanford Law School since 1979. Professor Rhode's research spans gender equality, the legal profession, legal theory, and the relationship between law and gender. more

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“Individuals because of their identity can't render an impartial judgment is just deeply offensive and contrary to all the ideals of the judicial system that we value.”

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Author:Deborah Rhode

“Ironically enough, if the case involves race, and one claims that race is a disqualifying factor, nobody could hear the case. Everybody comes to these cases with some preconceptions, and the premise of our judicial system is that judges by training and by ethical codes are obligated to set those prejudices aside and to decide on the facts and the law. And to claim that somebody can't simply because of their racial identity is deeply offensive.”

Ifs Enough Facts Law Race Cases Identity Judging Training Claims Prejudice Factors Code Ethical Offensive Premises Judicial Preconceptions Judicial System Racial Identity

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“Thurgood Marshall because of his experience of discrimination did bring a special perspective to the court. That’s what his colleagues on the court so valued him for as all the tributes pouring in after his retirement attested.”

Special Perspective Court Discrimination Retirement Colleagues Tribute Pouring

Author:Deborah Rhode

“If you follow Donald Trump's logic, say that he couldn't decide any civil rights cases because he would be biased.I mean, we do want a diverse and inclusive judiciary - one that looks like the people that they serve. And we do recognize the value of having diverse backgrounds represented.”

People Ifs Want Looks Mean Would Be Values Cases Rights Trump Logic Backgrounds Civil Rights Diverse Biased Judiciary

Author:Deborah Rhode

“We don't want to disqualify individuals who are selected partly because they bring that diverse experience to the court in cases where that experience is most likely to make a difference.”

Want Individual Differences Cases Court Making A Difference Diverse Selected

Author:Deborah Rhode

“If that were a winning argument, Donald Trump could get anybody off the bench on his cases by just something deeply offensive based on their background.”

Ifs Winning Cases Trump Argument Backgrounds Offensive Benches

Author:Deborah Rhode

“There have been so many examples of highly qualified judges of enormous integrity who lost their positions because they were in fact disabled from speaking out to defend a controversial opinion.”

Has Beens Facts Lost Opinion Example Position Judging Integrity Enormous Qualified Disabled Controversial Speaking Out

Author:Deborah Rhode

“You can understand why the original framers of judicial ethics thought it would be undignified and would call into question the legitimacy of the judicial decision-making process to have mudslinging by judges, but the way that we hobble people of enormous integrity from defending themselves is, I think, deeply problematic in states where you have an elected judiciary, or a judge is subject to recall.”

“I do think the whole question of judicial accountability is a complicated one. On the one hand, you want to encourage judicial independence. And it's always, I think, problematic when an unpopular decision triggers a recall election. Because it sends a disempowering message to judges. On the other hand, it's the only way that voters have to rein in someone whose views are really so out of the mainstream of public opinion that they jeopardize the legitimacy of the judicial process.”

“I personally think that we should be extremely reluctant to use a recall mechanism for an unpopular decision simply because of the message it sends about judicial independence.”

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Author:Deborah Rhode