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Document Type

Article

Language

English (en)

Publication Date

2023

Publication Title

Boston University Law Review

Abstract

In a 2021 NYU Law School conversation with Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the Justice was asked whether she observed higher levels of interruptions of female Justices, relative to their male colleagues, during the Supreme Court’s oral arguments. Justice Sotomayor responded in the affirmative:

“Did I notice it as a dynamic? Without question . . . but I don’t know of a woman who hasn’t. Meaning, regrettably, that is a dynamic that exists not just on the court but in our society in general. Most of the time, women say things, and they’re not heard in the same way [as] men [who] might say the identical thing.”

Empirical evidence confirms that Sotomayor’s observations matched reality, with a 2017 study indicating “women on the Supreme Court are interrupted at a markedly higher rate during oral arguments than men” and that “both male Justices and male advocates interrupt women more frequently than they interrupt other men.” Following the publication of these results, the Justices of the Supreme Court—and especially John Roberts as the Court’s Chief Justice and leader—apparently took note. As Sotomayor put it,

“In the case of that study, I think it had an enormous impact. I know that after reports of that finding came out that our chief judge was much more sensitive to . . . ensuring that people got back to the judge who was interrupted.”

Until now, however, we have lacked empirical confirmation on whether Sotomayor’s assessment of the Chief—that Roberts’ efforts to stem gendered interruptions during oral arguments worked—were supported in oral argument data. With their Article Supreme Court Interruptions and Interventions: The Changing Role of the Chief Justice, Tonja Jacobi and Matthew Sag provide analysis on this very point, indicating that Sotomayor’s anecdotal observations are indeed empirically supported.

Keywords

Gender, Race, Oral Argument, Supreme Court, Judicial Behavior, Interruptions, Chief Justice, Leadership

Publication Citation

Christina L. Boyd & Sidney E. Shank, How Gender-Biased Oral Argument Interruptions Opened the Door for Chief Justice Roberts to Be a Transformational Leader, 103 B.U. L. Rev. 1805 (2023)

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