Rhode Island Courts Clerks for Upcoming Year Are Nearly All-White

Rhode Island Courts Clerks for Upcoming Year Are Nearly All-White

 

The Rhode Island Judiciary recently announced its clerks for both the Rhode Island Supreme Court and trial courts, and just three of the 24 are minorities, according to sources with direct knowledge.

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The court has not disputed this assertion.

Statistically, just 12.5% of the clerks are men and women of color in a state where 30% are minorities.

A spokesperson for the court refused to answer if this was the lowest percentage of minorities in the clerk's class — and claimed that the court is trying to recruit minorities.

“Both the trial law clerks and the Supreme Court chamber law clerks go through a multi-step application and selection process. The Judiciary cannot and does not collect demographic data at the application stage, as that practice would be illegal,” said Alexandra E. Kriss, Assistant State Court Administrator.

One of the state's leading minority advocates, however, called out the results. 

"The BLM RI PAC is deeply concerned about the recent selection of Supreme Court and trial law clerks in Rhode Island, which has shown a lack of diversity. While we acknowledge the legal constraints on collecting demographic data during the application process, we strongly urge the Rhode Island Judiciary to take immediate and proactive measures to address this issue,” said Harrison Tuttle of BLM PAC RI.

“We recommend implementing implicit bias training, establishing outreach programs, increasing transparency, and offering mentorship to promote diversity and inclusion within the judiciary. Enhancing representation is essential for equitable decision-making and fostering community trust,” added Tuttle.

 

 

Clearly, the court's initiatives are not working, and the explanation of the effort is convoluted.

The trial clerks program is administered by the daughter of recently retired Superior Court Judge Nettie Vogel.

A GoLocal report in 2016 uncovered that at the time, of the 85 state judges and magistrates — only one was a minority.

For centuries, the Rhode Island Supreme Court was all-white — until Melissa Long was named to the high court in 2020.

In 1747, Gideon Cornell was appointed to serve as the first Rhode Island Chief Justice, and four other justices were appointed. They were all white.

Since then, nearly 100 judges have been appointed to the high court, or to serve as Chief Justice, over the past 280 years, and not a single justice of color had been appointed until Long.

Only due to a flurry of appointments in the past couple of years do the percentage of Rhode Island minority judges now exceed 10%.

 

Limited Outreach

Kriss defended the court’s efforts.

"Several administrators in the Supreme Court Law Department and the Supreme Court Chambers are involved in the law clerk application and selection process. All of the trial court law clerk position openings are posted through ApplyRI. The Law Clerk Department and the Supreme Court chambers reached out to more than 30 law school programs this year. Due to COVID-19, Spring 2022 was the first time the department was able to participate in in-person recruitment since before the pandemic. There were in-person visits at Roger Williams Law School and the University of Connecticut School of Law," she said.

However, there was no apparent effort to recruit from law schools with a high percentage of minority students.

Howard University in Law School in Washington is comprised of nearly 100% students of color. 

Roger Williams Law is 34% minority, and Connecticut is 32%.

See the others here.