Report: ethnicity influences judiciary decision making: comprehensive study reveals judges' race affects outcomes in workplace racial harassment cases.

Report: ethnicity influences judiciary decision making: comprehensive study reveals judges' race affects outcomes in workplace racial harassment cases. A recent examination of federal lawsuit decisions found thatplaintiffs charging workplace racial harassment Ask a Lawyer QuestionCountry: United States of AmericaState: NevadaI recently moved to nev.from abut have been going back to ca. every 2 to 3 weeks for med. prevailed 45.8 percentof the time when the presiding judge presiding judgen. 1) in both state and federal appeals court, the judge who chairs the panel of three or more judges during hearings and supervises the business of the court. was Black. The percentages decreaseby more than half when those cases were heard by a White judge. However, there were only 24 Black judges, compared with 350 Whitejudges, to hear complaints from about 300 Black plaintiffs. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "African-American judges' (likely) experiences (withdiscrimination) give them valuable knowledge, perspectives andunderstandings of minority plaintiffs that many Whites lack," thestudy said. Black judges are better able to identify "subtle andnuanced forms of discrimination," according to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. "The Myth ofthe Color-Blind Judge: An Empirical Analysis of Racial HarassmentCases," which observers say bolsters arguments for a more diversejudiciary. "All judges of all races should follow the legal principlesand look at just the facts. What our research found is judges are doingthat but they come out with different decision-making patterns based onrace in these cases. This just didn't happen by chance," saidPat K. Chew, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh whoconducted the analysis with Robert E. Kelley, a professor at CarnegieMellon University's Tepper School of Business The Tepper School of Business is a private business school located on Carnegie Mellon University’s 140 acre campus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.The Tepper School consistently ranks highly among the top business schools in the world as well as in a wide range of . Chew and Kelley randomly selected and analyzed more than 400workplace harassment cases reported from six federal circuits from 1981to 2003. The study also examined judges' political affiliation,plaintiffs' success rate in winning a case and types of cases, suchas those involving racial slurs. Dana Horst, director of development and marketing for Just TheBeginning Foundation, which works to increase diversity in thejudiciary, said this study is confirmation that the under-representationof minorities in the judiciary influences the application of the law. "The interpretation of occasionally murky legal principles ...creates an argument for a diverse and representative judiciary.Although, as the paper notes, judges of all races are equally attentiveto the merits of the case, it is the inclusion of unclear principles inmany of these cases that call for personal interpretations informed byspecific experience," Horst said. The study places renewed significance on the diversity of PresidentBarack Obama's judicial picks as he tries to fill 103 federal benchvacancies. Although the number of minority judges remains low, Obama hasappointed 24 federal judges of color not of the white race; - commonly meaning, esp. in the United States, of negro blood, pure or mixed.See also: Color during his 15 months in office. Asof March 10, eight of Obama's choices were confirmed. Among thoseawaiting Senate approval is Goodwin Liu, an associate dean and professorat University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley is a public research university located in Berkeley, California, United States. Commonly referred to as UC Berkeley, Berkeley and Cal School of Law, who was nominatedfor the United States Court of Appeals The United States courts of appeals (or circuit courts) are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system. A court of appeals decides appeals from the district courts within its federal judicial circuit, and in some instances from other for the Ninth Circuit. Incomparison, Ronald Reagan appointed 22 judges of color during histwo-term tenure. Bill Clinton appointed 92 and George W. Bush 49. The study provides a detailed analysis of the severe shortage ofBlacks, Hispanics and Asians and especially Native Americans on federaland state benches. That's why the National Congress of AmericanIndians in Washington, D.C., met with Obama administration officials inDecember and presented a few names of judicial candidates. "There were two Native Americans (Frank Howell Seay and BillyMichael Burrage) appointed to the federal district courts in the entirehistory of the judiciary, and both in Oklahoma. Two is not a largenumber," said staff attorney Katy R. Jackman. "A report likethis is definitely needed to show diversity is needed in the federaljudiciary. We are hopeful in the coming months to see some NativeAmericans who are nominated (by Obama)." Chew said the lack of understanding among minority lawyers aboutthe political process in becoming a judge may contribute to the limitednumber of minorities reaching the federal bench. However, Kellye Y. Testy tes��ty?adj. tes��ti��er, tes��ti��estIrritated, impatient, or exasperated; peevish: a testy cab driver; a testy refusal to help. , dean of the University of Washington LawSchool, said there is a pipeline problem that begins with inadequatenumbers of minorities getting into law school. A recent ColumbiaUniversity Columbia University,mainly in New York City; founded 1754 as King's College by grant of King George II; first college in New York City, fifth oldest in the United States; one of the eight Ivy League institutions. study found that 61 percent of Black and 46 percent ofMexican-American students were denied admission to law school from 2003to 2008. "We need to make a pipeline for legal education forminorities. Justice will not be served if we do not have diversity inthe legal profession," Testy said. Noting the significance of their findings, the authors say the datamakes the case for more diversity on the bench. "As a legal community and as a diverse society, we should notbe blind to the color of judges," the report stated.Representation of Minority Judges on Federal and StateBenches Compared with Representation in General Population African-American Hispanic Asian-AmericanGeneral population 12.3% 12.5% 3.6%Federal Judges 11% 7.2% 0.07%State Judges 5.9% 2.8% 1.1% Native-American WhiteGeneral population 1% 66%Federal Judges 0% 81%State Judges 0.01% 89.9%SOURCE: "MYTH OF THE COLOR-BLIND JUDGE: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OFRACIAL HARASSMENT CASES" BY PROFESSORS PAT K. CHEW AND ROBERT E.KELLEY