SUPREME COURT: To what extent is there minority representation in the judiciary?

We can look at this from a couple of angles;

1) Ethnic minorities

Are there enough ethnic minorities such as African Americans, Hispanics and Asians?

2) Social minorities eg disabled people

Are there enough social minorities?

3) Minority opinion

How often are rulings against public opinion and in favour of a minority opinion?

The question is asking about minority representation in the judiciary. The judiciary includes judges on a regional, state and federal level (not only the Supreme Court!!). So when you mention Hispanic Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, remember to talk about lower court judges as well

Discuss whether minorities are represented physically i.e what percentage of judges are ethnic/social minorities? Is this proportionate to the percentage of minorities in the population?

Discuss whether the rulings are favourable to minorities e.g. affirmative action, gay rights cases

Intro

Include all the key terms; 

-minority representation

-judiciary

Briefly talk about the importance of minority representation e.g. to increase public confidence in the judiciary. 

Discuss the different angles of minority representation and state whether you think there is minority representation

Main body

1) Ethnic/social minority representation

YES: There are ethnic minorities in the Supreme Court including Clarence Thomas, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor

Racially diverse states such as Hawaii or Texas have very high minority representation in state courts

Consider 

NO: Although there are some ethnic minorities in the judiciary, the percentage is still unrepresentative of the population. For example, the Hispanic population grew by 43% between 2001 and 2010, but this growth is not reflected in the judiciary  

2) Court rulings

YES: There have been a number of cases in favour of ethnic and social minorities such as Brown v Board of Education 1954 (desegregation), Grutter v Bollinger 2003 (affirmative action), and the recent same sex marriage ruling (2015)

NO: There have also been some cases in expense of ethnic and social minorities such as Gratz v Bollinger (2003) and Schuette v Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action (2014), both of which ruled against affirmative action. The Court even refused to hear the Adar v Smith case in 2013, which was related to gay rights. This could be because the Supreme Court has become more conservative in recent years 

Conclusion

Say whether you think there is minority representation and why. You could say no because ethnic minorities tend to have lower educational attainment and therefore have a lower chance of becoming a judge. Or you could yes; explaining that minority representation varies from state to state, but the highest Court in the land is very ethnically diverse