IV

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. RES. 111

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Supreme

Court of the United States should improve its employment practices

with regard to hiring more qualified minority applicants to serve as

clerks to the Justices.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 11, 1999

Mr. MEEKS of New York (for himself, Mr. CONYERS, Mr HILLIARD, Mrs.

CHRISTENSEN, Ms. HORTON, Mr. WYNN, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr. RUSH,

Mr. FORD, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mrs. JONES of Ohio,

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. STARK, Mr. SANDLIN,

Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Ms. LEE,

Mr. CUMMINGS, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr.

OBERSTAR, Mr. DIXON, Mr. UNDERWOOD, Mr. CLAY, Mr. TOWNS, Mr.

OWENS, and Mr. RANGEL) submitted the following resolution; which was

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that

the Supreme Court of the United States should improve

its employment practices with regard to hiring more

qualified minority applicants to serve as clerks to the

Justices.

Whereas the United States Supreme Court, the highest court

in the country, has the final say on such important issues

as affirmative action, civil rights, access to education,

workplace discrimination, religious freedom, prayer in
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school, voting rights, the 2000 Census, sexual harassment, police brutality, and death penalty appeals;

Whereas each of the 9 Justices are allowed four law clerks

a year;

Whereas the power these clerks hold is immense;

Whereas they review all cases brought before the court and

help decide which ones the Justices should hear;

Whereas while the Justices often determine how they will

vote, the clerks usually put in all the reasoning;

Whereas however, the United States Supreme Court has a

shameful record in hiring minority and women law clerks;

Whereas a recent study found that of the 428 law clerks

hired during the respective terms of the sitting

Justices—

(1) only 1.6 percent were African-American;

(2) only 1.2 percent were Hispanic-American;

(3) 4.2 percent were Asian-American;

(4) none were Native-American; and

(5) only 25.2 percent were women;

Whereas this, despite the fact that more than 40 percent of

law school graduates are now women and nearly 20 percent are minorities;

Whereas this lack of diversity within such an important body

is unacceptable; and

Whereas these clerks have a dramatic impact on the lives of

every American, yet they are in no way a reflection of

America: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that—
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1 (1) the United States Supreme Court should

2 move in an expeditious manner to improve its em3 ployment practices with regard to hiring more quali4 fied minority and women applicants to serve as

5 clerks;

6 (2) the United States Supreme Court should

7 implement recruiting procedures to ensure that di8 versity is emphasized and not undermined; and

9 (3) the inferior courts of the United States will

10 follow the lead of the United States Supreme Court

11 by improving their employment practices and re12 cruiting procedures to include more minority and

13 women law clerks.

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