Winner, Next Generation Indie Book Awards - Women's Nonfiction Best Book of 2020, National Law Journal The inspiring and previously untold history of the women considered—but not selected—for the US Supreme Court In 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor became the first female justice on the United States Supreme Court after centuries of male appointments, a watershed moment in the long struggle for gender equality. Yet few know about the remarkable women considered in the decades before her triumph. Shortlisted tells the overlooked stories of nine extraordinary women—a cohort large enough to seat the entire Supreme Court—who appeared on presidential lists dating back to the 1930s. Florence Allen, the first female judge on the highest court in Ohio, was named repeatedly in those early years. Eight more followed, including Amalya Kearse, a federal appellate judge who was the first African American woman viewed as a potential Supreme Court nominee. Award-winning scholars Renee Knake Jefferson and Hannah Brenner Johnson cleverly weave together long-forgotten materials from presidential libraries and private archives to reveal the professional and personal lives of these accomplished women. In addition to filling a notable historical gap, the book exposes the tragedy of the shortlist. Listing and bypassing qualified female candidates creates a false appearance of diversity that preserves the status quo, a fate all too familiar for women, especially minorities. Shortlisted offers a roadmap to combat enduring bias and discrimination. It is a must-read for those seeking positions of power as well as for the powerful who select them in the legal profession and beyond.

From 1981 to 2010, the advancements of women in the United States can be seen in the words of the four pioneering women on the Supreme Court. The Rhetoric of Supreme Court Women: From Obstacles to Options, by Nichola D. Gutgold, explores how Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg used effective rhetoric and worked to overcome gender obstacles, while cultural changes in America provided Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan with a wider range of rhetorical options.Gutgold's exploration of these four Supreme Court women provides valuable insight into the use of political communication and the changing gender zeitgeist in American politics.

The United States Supreme Court decides the laws of the land and is located in Washington, D.C., the nation's capital. It was started in 1789, but it took almost two hundred years before the first woman was appointed as a Supreme Court Justice. Since that time, only six women have served on the Supreme Court. In this book, the authors share the inspiring, and hardworking lives of the six women - Sandra Day O'Connor, Elena Kagan, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson - and offer young readers a glimpse of their lives as young girls who were doing all the things - reading, writing, speaking, reaching for their dreams and never giving up - that led them to the nation's highest court! Read all about them, and you too could grow up supremely! Perfect for ages 6-10. Winner of the 2020 Dragonfly Book Award for Biographies

Eleven contributed chapters relate the Court's evolution in cases regarding the application of its "Equal Justice Under Law" motto to women. Includes a foreword by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, bandw photos of legal pioneers, and a glossary of legal terms. Co- published with the Supreme Court Historical Society. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR

The Supreme Court is one of the most traditional institutions in America that has been an exclusively male domain for almost two hundred years. From 1981 to 2010, four women were appointed to the Supreme Court for the first time in U.S. history. The Rhetoric of Supreme Court Women: From Obstacles to Options, by Nichola D. Gutgold, analyzes the rhetoric of the first four women elected to the Supreme Court: Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan. Gutgold’s thorough exploration of these pioneering women’s rhetorical strategies includes confirmation hearings, primary scripts of their written opinions, invited public lectures, speeches, and personal interviews with Justices O’Connor, Ginsberg, and Sotomayor. These illuminating documents and interviews form rhetorical biographies of the first four women of the Supreme Court, shedding new light on the rise of political women in the American judiciary and the efficacy of their rhetoric in a historically male-dominated political system. Gutgold’s The Rhetoric of Supreme Court Women provides valuable insight into political communication and the changing gender zeitgeist in American politics.

Winner, Next Generation Indie Book Awards - Women's Nonfiction Best Book of 2020, National Law Journal The inspiring and previously untold history of the women considered—but not selected—for the US Supreme Court In 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor became the first female justice on the United States Supreme Court after centuries of male appointments, a watershed moment in the long struggle for gender equality. Yet few know about the remarkable women considered in the decades before her triumph. Shortlisted tells the overlooked stories of nine extraordinary women—a cohort large enough to seat the entire Supreme Court—who appeared on presidential lists dating back to the 1930s. Florence Allen, the first female judge on the highest court in Ohio, was named repeatedly in those early years. Eight more followed, including Amalya Kearse, a federal appellate judge who was the first African American woman viewed as a potential Supreme Court nominee. Award-winning scholars Renee Knake Jefferson and Hannah Brenner Johnson cleverly weave together long-forgotten materials from presidential libraries and private archives to reveal the professional and personal lives of these accomplished women. In addition to filling a notable historical gap, the book exposes the tragedy of the shortlist. Listing and bypassing qualified female candidates creates a false appearance of diversity that preserves the status quo, a fate all too familiar for women, especially minorities. Shortlisted offers a roadmap to combat enduring bias and discrimination. It is a must-read for those seeking positions of power as well as for the powerful who select them in the legal profession and beyond.

A comprehensive history of the people and cases that have changed history, this is the definitive account of the nation's highest court featuring a forward by Howard Zinn Recent changes in the Supreme Court have placed the venerable institution at the forefront of current affairs, making this comprehensive and engaging work as timely as ever. In the tradition of Howard Zinn's classic A People's History of the United States, Peter Irons chronicles the decisions that have influenced virtually every aspect of our society, from the debates over judicial power to controversial rulings in the past regarding slavery, racial segregation, and abortion, as well as more current cases about school prayer, the Bush/Gore election results, and "enemy combatants." To understand key issues facing the supreme court and the current battle for the court's ideological makeup, there is no better guide than Peter Irons. This revised and updated edition includes a foreword by Howard Zinn. "A sophisticated narrative history of the Supreme Court . . . [Irons] breathes abundant life into old documents and reminds readers that today's fiercest arguments about rights are the continuation of the endless American conversation." -Publisher's Weekly (starred review)

Since 1980, the Canadian women's movement has been an active participant in consitutional politics and Charter litigation. This book, through its focus on the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF), presents a compelling examination of how Canadian feminists became key actors in developing the constitutional doctrine of equality, and how they mobilized that doctrine to support the movement's policy agenda. The case of LEAF, an organization that has as its goal the use of Charter litigation to influence legal rules and public policy, provides rich ground for Christopher Manfredi's keen analysis of legal mobilization. In a multitude of areas such as abortion, pornography, sexual assault, family law, and gay and lesbian rights, LEAF has intervened before the Supreme Court to bring its understanding of equality to bear on legal policy development. This study offers a deft examination of LEAF's arguments and seeks to understand how they affected the Court's consideration of the issues. Perhaps most important, it also contemplates the long-term effects of the mobilization, and considers the social impact of the legal doctrine that has emerged from LEAF cases. A major contribution to law and society studies, Feminist Activism in the Supreme Court is unparalleled in its analysis of legal mobilization as an effective strategy for social movements. It will be widely read and welcomed by legal scholars, political scientists, lawyers, feminists, and activists.

Intended for use in courses on law and society, as well as courses in women's and gender studies, women and politics, and women and the law - this book that takes up the question of what women judges signify in several different jurisdictions in the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union. In so doing, its empirical case studies uniquely offer a model of how to study gender as a social process rather than merely studying women and treating sex as a variable. A gender analysis yields a fuller understanding of emotions and social movement mobilization, backlash, policy implementation, agenda setting, and representation. Lastly, the book makes a non-essentialist case for more women judges, that is, one that does not rest on women's difference.

The United States Supreme Court decides the laws of the land and is located in Washington, D.C., the nation's capital. It was started in 1789, but it took almost two hundred years before the first woman was appointed as a Supreme Court Justice. Since that time, only four women have served on the Supreme Court.In this book, the authors share the inspiring, and hardworking lives of the four women - Sandra Day O'Connor, Elena Kagan, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, & Sonia Sotomayor -and offer young readers a glimpse of their lives as young girls who were doing all the things - reading, writing, speaking, reaching for their dreams and never giving up - that led them to the nation's highest court!Read all about them, and you too could grow up supremely!Perfect for ages 6-10.Based on her book, The Rhetoric of Supreme Court Women, this is Nichola D. Gutgold's second scholarly book turned children's book to help young readers see all the potential for themselves, after Madam President: Women Who Paved the Way.