In the news: White talks gender bias in judicial appointments with Washington Post

Penny White, a UT Law professor and former Tennessee Supreme Court justice, recently discussed the ousting of Fairfax County, Virginia Justice Jane Marum Roush in an interview with the Washington Post​. In the article, White says that the lack of female judicial appointments in Virginia and nationwide are both direct results of gender bias in the appointment process.

“It’s because we’re not in the backrooms yet,” says White.“When those backroom deals are made, it’s mostly men making those decisions.”

However, White acknowledges that progress has been made in recent decades and that with the majority of today’s law school students being female, it is only a matter of time before women begin to see themselves represented in the judiciary at a more appropriate rate.

Read more of White’s comments and analysis at the Washington Post