Sandra Day O’Connor became the first female Supreme Court Justice in 1981, but before that there was a long history of female candidates waiting in the wings. On this week’s 51%, we discuss the honors and limits of being shortlisted with the authors of Shortlisted: Women in the Shadows of the Supreme Court. We also take a look at President Biden’s shortlist, following his pledge to nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court.
Joan Dempsey Klein, a celebrated champion of women’s rights and the first woman to become presiding judge of a California appellate court, died in her sleep at her home in Santa Monica on Christmas Eve. She was 96.
“She was definitely a self-made woman, quite ahead of her times, who pushed the barriers of what was possible for women at the time and always made sure to bring others along with her,” the justice’s stepdaughter, Karen Klein, wrote to The Times in an email.
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National Assn. for Women Judges, an organization co-founded by Justice Klein in 1979, described the late judge who served 36 years in Division 3 of the 2nd District Court of Appeal as a “trailblazer, giant, mentor, founding mother” and “a pioneer in the struggle to achieve equal opportunity for women in the law.”