Open Letter to Senator Barbara Boxer

By Amy Ridenour
May 13, 2009

Dear Senator Boxer:

I read with interest your letter urging people to send an e-mail to President Obama urging him to select a woman for the U.S. Supreme Court.

I don't often agree with you, but I think you are half right this time. The President should definitely pick either a woman or a man.

But I'm concerned that your position overlooks the fight against another terrible form of discrimination.

You wrote:

Women make up 51% of our nation's population.

Yet only 17% of the seats in Congress are held by women. Only 3% of corporate CEOs are women. And just one out of nine Supreme Court justices is a woman.

Women have been discriminated against, and continue to be discriminated against, so the President should choose a woman for the Supreme Court. That's your position in a nutshell, right?

Have you considered that you may not be going far enough?

Let's face it, Senator. It isn't just women who are discriminated against. It's older women.

Older women are definitely discriminated against more than younger, more beautiful women.

If the President is going to use his Supreme Court pick to take a stand against discrimination, the President shouldn't just pick a woman for the Supreme Court. He should pick one of the women who are discriminated against the most.

That is, an older woman.

And the older the woman he chooses, the stronger a statement he'll make.

So please join me in urging the President to nominate someone really old to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The older the better.

Like 98 or so.

The noble fight against sexism and ageism requires no less.

With all due respect,

Amy Ridenour