March 11, 2004

 

 

SENT BY FAX TO (701) 328-2205

 

Governor John Hoeven
Dept. 101
600 E. Boulevard Ave.
Bismarck, ND 58505-0001

 

RE:       Appointment to Judicial Vacancy in East Central Judicial District

 

 

Dear Governor Hoeven:

 

The North Dakota Human Rights Coalition requests that you consider the gender of the applicants for the vacancy in the East Central Judicial District when making your decision on the appointment for this vacancy.

 

The Judicial Nominating Committee has submitted three applicants for your consideration when making this appointment, two of which are women.  Given the role of the Judicial Nominating Committee in the appointment process, all of the three applicants would be qualified for this judicial vacancy.  Indeed, the Chair of the Nominating Committee is quoted as stating that each of the three applicants would make an “excellent” district court judge.

 

As you may be aware, according to the 2000 census, 50.1% of the population of North Dakota are women.  And, there are currently 42 district court judges in North Dakota, 7 of whom are women.  This means that only 16.7% of the district court judges are women.  While you have appointed one woman to a district court vacancy in the past year, more women are needed on the district court bench in order to begin to reflect the number of women in the population of North Dakota.

 

The North Dakota Human Rights Coalition believes that the number of women, people of color and people with disabilities in state and local governments should reflect those numbers in the population of this state.  Their representation in government, including the judiciary, is necessary to provide the perspective of these populations in the branches of government, and for those who access our government to believe that those who make the decisions in our government understand the concerns of all residents of North Dakota.