According to this Idaho Press-Tribune article, Idaho and Indiana are now the only states in the US where the state’s highest court do not include any female judges. Of course, everyone was aware of this possibility prior to the appointment of Judge Joel Horton to fill the vacancy left by Justice Linda Copple-Trout. Should the position be decided/not decided by gender as a rule? Or does this situation where there would be zero females on the Court otherwise, create a special circumstance where gender should be considered? Or are there simply not enough qualified women who want the job?
[Peg Dougherty, Vice President of the Idaho Women Lawyers, says,] “It’s a very large segment of the population that’s not being represented on the court, and I don’t think that anyone can dispute that a woman’s perspective is different than a man’s perspective.”
Horton, however, said he didn’t think gender would be an issue in the high court’s rulings.
“My flip answer is that as a male, I wouldn’t know,” Horton joked.
Women In Law Daily 