President's Message

Our efforts at increasing diversity on the bench have been rewarded with the confirmation of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the United States Supreme Court.

his issue of Counterbalance is dedicated to you the members. The news is sometimes grim and it seems as if we’re not progressing in the right direction but we at NAWJ have stayed focused on our mission statement and achieved much in the last year.

After navigating the pandemic, we successfully held two in person meetings, the Annual Conference in Nashville, which was great fun and so inspiring, followed by our midyear meeting in Washington DC at which we celebrated Women Judges Day and honored three Afghan Women Judges with NAWJ memberships. Efforts are ongoing to help these women get fellowships to LLM programs or pursue other opportunities in the legal profession.

Our committees are focused on improving fairness and equity in the law. Our Domestic Violence Committee has been working cooperatively with the American Law Institute seeking to revise their proposed Model Penal Code to adopt a definition of “consent” in sexual assault cases which does not put the burden of proof on the victim to show lack of consent.

Our efforts at increasing diversity on the bench have been rewarded with the confirmation of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the United States Supreme Court. In addition, women of color continue to rise to positions of prominence. Justice Patricia Guerrero, a daughter of immigrants became the first Latina to join the California Supreme Court, and Justice Lisa Holder White became the first Black woman to serve on the Illinois Supreme Court.

NAWJ’s Master Calendar was launched on April 1 and a review of the activities of our members, Districts and Committees demonstrates just how active our organization is. I encourage you to check out the calendar and become a part of the amazing work NAWJ accomplishes through its Districts and Committees.

We have also been active in producing webinars: “Pathways to the Administrative Judiciary” by our Administrative Judiciary Committee, “Immigration Update” by our Immigration Committee and “Racial Disparity in the Courts – Strategies to Combat Racial Inequality in the Courts and Criminal Justice System” by our Access and Fairness Committee thanks to a grant from the State Justice Institute.

We are initiating a collaboration with the National Judicial College to share educational programs and sponsorships.

Make sure to register for our 44th Annual Conference to be held at the Westin Book Cadillac Detroit to be held from October 1922. The conference promises to offer amazing educational programming, opportunities to network not to mention dance to the Motown music!

I am grateful to all of you for the work that you do and for continuing to remain positive as we seek to promote the judicial role of protecting the rights of individuals under the rule of law through strong committed, diverse judicial leadership, fairness and equality in the courts and equal access to justice.

Hon. Elizabeth White

President