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The Surprisingly Long History Of Women 'Shortlisted' For SCOTUS

The Supreme Court
Evan Vucci
/
AP
The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of the United States just got its sixth woman justice. So there's still plenty of catching up to do, since the court has been the working home for 110 men so far.

You might be surprised to hear that women began showing up on short lists of potential SCOTUS nominees as early as the 1930s. That's just one surprise contained in the pages of the book Shortlisted, by law professors Renee Knake Jefferson and Hannah Brenner Johnson.

They walk us through the history of women being considered for jobs as justices, the strong resistance to the inclusion of women at SCOTUS (including from male justices), and why it took another 50 years before a woman made it from shortlisting to the court. Renee Knake Jefferson is our guest.

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The Jefferson Exchange is Jefferson Public Radio's daily talk show focused on news and interests across our region of Southern Oregon and Northern California. Angela Decker is the senior producer, Charlie Zimmermann is the assistant producer, and Geoffrey Riley hosts the show.