Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Women reign supreme
Nevada Supreme Court’s new female majority makes history
For the first time in Nevada history, more women than men are at the helm of the state’s highest court.
The two newest Nevada Supreme Court justices, both women, were sworn in Monday, giving women a 4-3 majority on the court.
“It’s about time,” Miriam Shearing, the state’s first female Supreme Court justice, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I think that Nevada citizens are realizing that women can be just as effective, if not more so, as men in high positions in the legal profession. I’m very gratified to see it.”
Shearing served on the high court from 1993 until her retirement in 2005.
The new group took the bench for the first time Tuesday to remarks from Chief Justice Mark Gibbons, who noted that it was “certainly a historic day.”
“On my left here at the end is Justice Abbi Silver, and on my right is Justice Elissa Cadish,” Gibbons said, introducing the court’s newest members. “It’s a pleasure to have both of them join the court.”
Gibbons also recognized Justice Lidia Stiglich for winning her race in November, securing the seat to which then-Gov. Brian Sandoval appointed her in 2016.
“We’re glad to have her back for a full six-year term now,” Gibbons said. “With that background, we’ll go ahead and get started on today’s hearings.”
Historic moment
After Gibbons’ remarks, it was business as usual in the Las Vegas courtroom — aside from a few familiar faces in the gallery.
There was Cadish’s husband, Howard Beckerman, snapping photos with two different cameras hoisted around his neck. And there was the justice’s 81-year-old father, Robert Geteles, who flew in from New Jersey to witness the historic moment.
Geteles said Cadish’s mother died in 2016, “so she couldn’t be here to share in the joy of this.”
He had two words for his daughter: “Very proud.”
District Judge Douglas Herndon also attended. He sat next to his daughter Kaitlyn, 21, who was home from college on winter break. She previously externed for Justice Kristina Pickering, who was elected in 2008, and was “thrilled” about the court’s female majority.
Herndon, who is a father of only daughters, said the majority was “not just historic, it’s long overdue and really, really neat to be able to have great female role models in the law like that.”
“My younger daughter was mad because she’s in high school, so she didn’t get to come,” he said.
‘Intellectual giants’
While the newest group of justices marks a milestone in Nevada, the state joins roughly a dozen others in the U.S. that have a female majority on their high courts.
Nationally, women account for about a third of judges at any level, said Connie Pillich, executive director of the National Association of Women Judges.
In a statement, the organization said it was “extremely pleased” to learn of the Nevada court’s first female majority.
“NAWJ believes that the public’s trust and confidence in the justice system is enhanced when the judiciary mirrors the diversity of the communities it serves,” the statement read.
District Judge Valerie Adair, who is familiar with each of the justices, told the Review-Journal she was elated about the majority, but she said it was important not to attribute it to “The Year of the Woman.”
“They’re all really qualified,” Adair said. “They deserve to be there.”
Retired Washoe County District Judge Janet Berry shared the sentiment, referring to each of the justices as “intellectual giants.”
“I rejoice not because they are women but because I know these women,” Berry said. “They are the best of the best. They are excellent lawyers who will serve our citizens with distinction and with excellent ability. We are blessed.”
Different backgrounds
Though the new majority brings a level of diversity the court has never seen, Anne Traum, a professor at UNLV’s Boyd School of Law, also noted that the female justices have “very different backgrounds.”
Pickering was a civil litigator at a private firm before taking her seat on the court in 2009. She owns a small ranch in central Nevada with her husband and enjoys long-distance running.
Stiglich was a trial lawyer who served as special counsel to then-Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki before becoming a district judge in Washoe County. Her appointment to the high court made her the first openly gay justice to serve there.
Silver, a former NBA cheerleader who once wanted to be a dancer, was a prosecutor before she went on to serve as a judge at every level of the state judicial system.
And Cadish worked as a commercial litigator with a background in employment law before her appointment to the Clark County District Court in 2007 — a seat she held until her successful 2018 bid for the Supreme Court.
“I think anytime you have this kind of personnel change on the court, the court kind of reinvents itself,” Traum said. “Each are going to bring their own experiences into the courtroom.”
Traum also said the new majority suggests there is a strong pipeline of qualified women who are rising in the ranks, made possible in part by the pioneering women who came before them.
I rejoice not because they are women but because I know these women. They are the best of the best. They are excellent lawyers who will serve our citizens with distinction and with excellent ability. We are blessed.’ Janet Berry, retired Washoe County District Court judge