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February 8th 2005 • Printer version
Mary M. Schroeder, the first woman to be named chief judge of
the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, spoke on "Whatever Happened to
Diversity?" at a free public lecture on February 16 at the
Knight Law Center.
"We
have accomplished a great deal in diversity. I don't think it's as much
a value as it once was," Schroeder said. "We are not seeing women and
minorities rising to the top levels of the legal profession as quickly
as I would like."
Read the February 10 Eugene Weekly interview.
Schroeder is in the middle of a seven-year term as chief judge of the
nationÃs largest judicial circuit, covering the western states, Alaska,
Hawaii and the Pacific Islands. The Arizona native was appointed to the
court in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter. Before that, she served on the
Arizona Court of Appeals for four years and was the youngest woman
appellate judge in America at the time.
She has been a pathbreaker during her entire career. In the 1960s, she
was one of only six women in her law school class at the University of
Chicago. In the summers, she was unable to find a position as a law
clerk because of her sex. She had endless interviews, but no offers,
when she began a search for her first job after her graduation in 1965.
She moved to Arizona with her husband at a time when no woman lawyer in
that state had ever been employed by a major law firm.
Nonetheless, she became a partner at Lewis and Roca, one of ArizonaÃs
largest firms. While still working as an attorney, she chaired the
committee that drafted and secured passage of the stateÃs first civil
rights law.
As a member of the Ninth Circuit Court, Judge Schroeder has established
a record as a prolific writer and scholar. Among her noteworthy cases
is Hirabayashi v. United States, which held in 1987 that the World War
II Japanese internment was unconstitutional. Schroeder wrote in her
opinion that the order to remove people of Japanese ancestry from the
West Coast "caused needless suffering and shame for thousands of
American citizens."
SchroederÃs visit to the UO is sponsored by the students of the WomenÃs
Law Forum, an organization committed to increasing awareness of womenÃs
issues and promoting equality and fair treatment of women.
Jan. 17, 2005: PBS NEWSHOUR Profiles the Ninth Circuit
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