Nominee for top NY court will be 2nd Black woman in position [the legal profession is Overwhelmingly White; 80% of All Judges are White]
THE CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS FOUND THAT THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY IS 80% WHITE. AMONG THE HIGHEST STATE COURTS THE JUDICIARY IS 83% WHITE. IN FACT THERE ARE NO BLACK JUSTICES IN 28 STATES, THERE ARE NO LATINO JUSTICES IN 40 STATES, THERE ARE NO ASIAN AMERICAN JUSTICES IN 44 STATES AND THERE ARE NO NATIVE AMERICAN JUSTICES IN 47 STATES. [MORE] ANOTHER STUDY FOUND THAT THE STATE JUDICIARY AT ALL OTHER LOWER LEVELS IS ALSO 80% WHITE. [MORE]
FURTHERMORE, ACCORDING TO THE A RECENT STUDY AND THE ABA ONLY 5% OF ALL ATTORNEYS ARE BLACK. SAID NUMBER HAS REMAINED STEADY FROM 2009 - 2019. THE LEGAL PROFESSION IS NEARLY ALL WHITE: SPECIFICALLY, IT IS 85% WHITE, 5% BLACK, 5% LATINO, 2% ASIAN AMERICAN AND 1% NATIVE AMERICAN. [MORE] AND [MORE]
From [HERE] Judge Shirley Troutman, the daughter of parents who grew up in the segregated South but moved their family north for a better life, said she was overwhelmed on learning Wednesday that New York Governor Kathy Hochul had nominated her to sit on the New York Court of Appeals.
“To think that I will soon stand before the New York Senate to be confirmed as a member and associate judge of the New York State Court of Appeals, our highest court, is certainly, simply put, surreal to me,” Troutman said.
Hochul, New York’s first female governor, told Troutman that she would be her first appointment to the Court of Appeals shortly before the press release announcing the decision was issued this morning, according to the judge.
If confirmed, Troutman would be the second Black woman to sit on the state’s highest court.
Her nomination comes as the state’s top court faced several vacancies this year. In March, Judge Paul Feinman, the first openly gay judge to sit on that bench, abruptly resigned due to illness and then died days later. In June, Judge Leslie Stein stepped down and was replaced by Judge Madeline Singas.
Hochul said in a statement that Troutman’s nomination represented Hochul’s effort to fill leadership positions across the state with a diverse slate of individuals.
Troutman, Hochul said, “has a brilliant legal mind, a fair-minded judicial philosophy, sterling qualifications, and a commitment to equal justice that guides her approach from the bench.”
The nomination of Troutman is to fill the seat of Associate Judge Eugene Fahey, who will leave the bench at the end of the year due to a requirement that judges retire when they turn 70. He had worked on the seven-member bench since 2015. [MORE]