Academic

Is the Supreme Court like a Corporate Board?

By Adam Benforado

Let me throw out some misleading (but nonetheless provocative!) statistics.

In 2001, 11.6 percent of the director positions at Fortune 500 companies were held by women.

Today, 11.1 percent of the positions on the Supreme Court are held by women.

Clearly there is a problem: women are graduating in high numbers from top law schools and business schools but are not ending up at the top of their respective professions.  As a result, decision-making in two of the most important and powerful institutions in the United States?the Supreme Court and corporate America?may be significantly less robust than it might otherwise be, at great social cost.

In recent years, a number of scholars have focused on documenting the role that gender plays on federal court decisions.  Similarly, there are academics interested in revealing how women change the way corporate boards function.  I wonder, however, if these scholars might learn anything by joining forces. 

Does the scholarship on gender diversity on corporate boards tell us anything about the benefits (or lack thereof) of gender diversity on courts?

If ?female directors have a significant impact on board inputs and firm outcomes,? as Renee B. Adams and Daniel Ferreira recently concluded, should we expect the same result from adding female justices to the Supreme Court or are differences in structure and practice likely to alter any gender effects in the judicial context?

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on May 12, 2009 (boomark / email).