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1. This analysis reinforces what many of us already assume about our political system. Positions of power, especially in the judiciary, are still held mostly by one group: White, male, Republican judges. The Gatekeepers data makes that imbalance clear. There were 452 White judges, while the numbers for other racial groups were extremely small, with only 17 Black judges and 19 Latino judges. The gender gap was just as striking. Women held only 30 judgeships, compared to 458 held by men. This pattern shows how deeply rooted these power structures are and raises real questions about whether a judiciary this uniform can genuinely reflect the society it serves. Since this survey, I wonder if anything has meaningfully changed.

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2. I think this analysis reiterates the long-held beliefs about our political system. That is, governmental positions, individuals who have the power to influence law and policy, are solely dominated by one specific group—those who are men, White, and Republican. The Gatekeepers analysis shows that there is a vast majority of white judges, 452 to be exact, compared to other race groups, who play a bare minimum in the results (i.e., Blacks at 17 and Latinos at 19). Additionally, the gender category was (by far) the most striking—women made up 30 judgships, whereas men dominated the arena with 458. This says much about the conflicts between superiority and inferiority, where men have historically dominated high-level positions. Is this type of system effective? In essence, a judge has/can have great power, and if we keep on maintaining the same pattern of electing White, male, Republican judges, then is that really representative of society and the people? Who knows. The survey is relatively new, so I wonder if we have made any progress in diversifying these roles. I am familiar with a few women judges, but I think nothing has changed…

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3. I am very thankful that my small project to Professor Lyles’s work on “The Gatekeepers” has been added to this blog, the book has opened my eyes considerably and there are not enough ways to say thanks for this opportunity.

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   • In this reply, separated so that the thanksgiving can be separated from the file, there is the excel sheet file from the google sheet I used.

     The calculators are formatted such that one can change the point values (some put Strongly Agree as 5 and Strongly Disagree as 1), as well as change the percentages and population sizes.

     One of the most important lessons to me was this: in an ideal world where there were equal numbers of judges by race, gender, or party, their beliefs would equal out into a middle position.

     But in reality, there were more Republican, White, and Male judges back in the 1990’s during the book’s creation. Needless to say, representation really matters for the judge population despite what law school may say.

     Jericho Bernal – A Data Analysis on Prof. Lyles’s The Gatekeepers (1)

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