Just because the justices making up the U.S. Supreme Court are a diverse group does not mean the lawyers presenting their cases in front of them are too, Fox News Latino reported.
According to their report, 75 hours of arguments have been heard in the Supreme Court since October. Attorneys who are minorities and women have had significantly less facetime in front of the Supreme Court than white men.
Asian lawyers were the only group that was overrepresented, appearing in 17 arguments in front of the court.
The Supreme Court currently consists of an African-American, a Hispanic and three women justices.
Women accounted for about 17 percent of the arguments, while African-Americans appeared for just 11 minutes. Hispanic lawyers were in the middle, arguing for a total of one hour and 45 minutes.
“Women and minority lawyers whose clients’ cases were heard by the court were far more likely to represent governments or be part of public-interest law firms than in private practice, where paychecks are much larger,” the report said.
The trend is similar to information reported by the Association for Legal Career Professionals. They conducted a survey that found 93 percent of partners in law firms are white, and 80 percent were men.
According to Alan Jenkins, an African-American and former Justice Department Lawyer, Supreme Court justices benefit from hearing arguments from a more diverse pool of lawyers.
He said it was “especially true” for lawyers appearing before the Supreme court “because the court, as an institution, is intentionally set apart from the day-to-day life of the nation.”
Jenkins argued four cases in front of the Supreme Court.
(Photo by TexasGOPVote.com via Flickr)
