TN Supreme Court Has New Majority – Women

For the first time, women will make up the majority of the Tennessee Supreme Court. Today Governor Bredesen appointed Sharon Gail Lee to fill the vacancy created by retiring Chief Justice William Barker.

Earlier this year, Janice Holder took over as Chief Justice of the five member body, making her the first woman to hold the job. With a new woman majority, Martha Daughtrey says she’s tickled pink. Judge Daughtrey is a federal judge who was the first woman to serve on the state supreme court. She was appointed in 1990, just before the Minnesota high court became the first in the country to have a woman majority.

“When we heard about it down here, some of the women lawyers in town threatened to rent a bus and drive up to St. Paul and sit in the back of the courtroom and see what that looked like.”

Judge Daughtrey says a woman majority is a milestone for the state and still a novelty throughout the country. While she says gender makeup shouldn’t affect the outcomes of cases, she admits her own opinions as the sole woman on the court didn’t always get the consideration she wanted. Daughtrey says a woman majority could occasionally make a difference.

Justice Sharon Gail Lee has been a judge on the state appeals court since 2004.