Tag: Carolyn Berger
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., June 26, 2014
The Senate approved a new Supreme Court Justice, Karen Valihura, and David Small as DNREC Secretary. I can’t let this go without a comment about Justice Carolyn Berger‘s resignation from the Delaware Supreme Court and her seemingly ‘injudicious’ comments. I don’t know it she’s right on the specifics of Markell not taking her seriously, but she’s right on point when it comes to, well, I guess the operative word is ‘paternalism’, when it comes to women appointees to judgeships.
When I first started working in Dover, the operative word was ‘chauvinism’. I’ll leave it to others to decide whether paternalism is a step up from chauvinism. To me, it’s ‘same old wine in a brand new bottle’. From Philadelphia Business Journal:
Berger’s situation outlines a concern in some quarters in Delaware that women do not have enough of a role on the judicial branch. Berger said women have advanced on the state’s family court, superior court and court of common pleas. She is also the only female to serve on the Court of Chancery, which deals with business litigation.
“Family court is the only court ever to have a woman chief judge,” Berger said. “The court of chancery has had no women judges for the past 20 years, despite the fact that several well-qualified women have applied in the past. And I’ve been the only woman on the supreme court. Many other states have more than one woman justice, and in several jurisdictions, women justices outnumber male justices.”
Maybe it’s the same menfolk arguing that Delaware’s courts are the nation’s most prestigious who, in their own paternalistic minds, don’t want the wimmenfolk messing with that reputation. Perhaps the wimmenfolk who are assuming the leadership role in the State Senate just might have something to say about this moving forward. I hope so. But, I digress. You can as well. In the comments section.
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