A recent study tracked the number of women working for the U.S. Supreme Court. At last count, Ruth “Egg Beater” Bader Ginsburg was the only woman on the bench (unless you count Souter).



The bloggers over at Feminist Law Professors (http://feministlawprofs.law.sc.edu/) calculated that over the past few years, the number of female Supreme Court law clerks has dwindled from a handful to a thimbleful. In the 2004-2005 term, 15 of 35 clerks were female. During the past term, the number had dropped to 13 out of 37. Reports for the next term reveal that the number will drop again, to only 7 out of 35.





Prettier Than Napoleon (http://bamber.blogspot.com) took to analyzing this data on her law blog. She points out that while women constitute a majority of law student in America, they are still a minority in the highest-rated law schools. She figures that women are also slightly less likely to be selected for law review, as well as less likely to take circuit court clerkships. She’s not totally sure if this is an institutional inequality issue or not, but the disparity is clear.