High Court Recruitment of Female Clerks: A Comparative Analysis of the U.S. Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of Canada

Abstract

<p>In this article, we systematically analyze the available data on SCOTUS clerk appointments to more thoroughly investigate the gender disparity in the hiring practices of its justices across the time period, 1941 to 2011, and compare this data, whenever possible, to that collected for the SCC from 1967 to 2007. In doing so, we are especially interested in exploring the impact of justice ideology and justice gender on individual decisions to hire female clerks. We maintain that the gender imbalance that has characterized the U.S. Supreme Court's composition might, at least partially, account for the discrepancy between the number of male and female clerks that have worked for this Court. It may also explain the notable relationship between a justice's ideology and his or her decision to hire female clerks.<br></p>