Lords to investigate judicial diversity (Guardian)

Figures show 20% of judges in England and Wales are women and less than 5%
from ethnic minority backgrounds

The predominance of white men on court benches and calls for parliament to
hold US-style confirmation hearings into the appointment of senior judges are
to be investigated by peers.

The House of Lords constitution committee has announced an inquiry into
judicial diversity and whether the appointments process was "fair,
independent, transparent and open".

Two new judges, both white and male, were appointed to the supreme court this
month and figures from the judicial diversity taskforce revealed a slow
advance in the number of women and those from ethnic minority backgrounds. The
taskforce said there were 3,598 judges in England and Wales in 2010, of whom
20.6% were women and 4.8% from ethnic minority backgrounds. In 2000 there were
3,441 judges, 12.7% of them women and 2% from ethnic minority backgrounds.

The selection of Lord Justice Wilson and Jonathan Sumption QC for the
12-member supreme court resulted in no change to its composition of 11 white
men and one woman. No one from an ethnic minority background was said to have
applied.

Peers are concerned about how unrepresentative the judiciary ...

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/88944564?client_source=feed&format=rss

brooke mueller us postal service uno united states postal service nikki reed