WINNER! Next Generation Indie Book Award for Women’s Nonfiction 2022

Shortlisted is now a 13-part lesson plan with videos, background, and assessments thanks to C-SPAN Classroom. Learn more here.

This fascinating book reconstructs a chapter of women’s history that has been hiding in plain sight: the numerous qualified women whose names were floated for the Supreme Court but who never got there. Just as they were overlooked, so have their individual stories been — until now.
— Linda Greenhouse, New York Times contributing columnist
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The book provides a behind-the-scenes empirical examination of the gendered portrayals of women shortlisted to the Supreme Court, casting a spotlight on media biases and stereotypes.
— Named 2020 Exemplary Legal Writing by the Green Bag Almanac
Written with lawyerly precision and clarity of thought, Shortlisted offers a comprehensive yet succinct look at the history of women in the Supreme Court with implications for women and minorities everywhere. … Straddling many disciplines, this book is well-researched, well-organized and well-argued. I rule in its favor.
— The Observer
Utilizing meticulous empirical research, Shortlisted masterfully tells the story of the women who were considered for nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. It is a must read.
— Carla Pratt, Dean of Washburn University School of Law and former Associate Justice for the Supreme Court of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, North Dakota
Shortlisted tells the political and personal sagas of women publicly considered for appointment to the Supreme Court but never actually nominated by a president... With fresh research, the authors effectively humanize the women who never received the nominations they deserved.
— Kirkus Reviews
timely and provocative ... well written, logically organized, and thoroughly researched exploration
— Law & Society Review
Stunningly original in its focus and its careful research, Shortlisted is beautifully written and an important addition to the literature about the Supreme Court.
— Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law
This is a major contribution.
— The Honorable Nancy Gertner, United States District Court Judge (Ret.) and Senior Lecturer, Harvard Law School
A perfect read not only for scholars of the United States Supreme Court or judicial decision making, but for anyone hoping to learn from our history.
— Law & Politics Book Review
Legal scholarship that creates new avenues of inquiry is inherently appealing, but when it also reveals obscured narratives of power in American society, you have the makings of a truly important contribution. Shortlisted has ignited a brain buzz that is still simmering.
— Melissa Mortazavi, Professor of Law, University of Oklahoma, Jotwell Review
Shortlisted is fresh, timely, and written in a way readers will love. It’s a great book.
— Corinna Lain, Professor of Law, University of Richmond

The inspiring and previously untold history of the women considered―but not selected―for the US Supreme Court

In 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor became the first female justice on the United States Supreme Court after centuries of male appointments, a watershed moment in the long struggle for gender equality. Yet few know about the remarkable women considered in the decades before her triumph.

Shortlisted tells the overlooked stories of nine extraordinary women—a cohort large enough to seat the entire Supreme Court—who appeared on presidential lists dating back to the 1930s. Florence Allen, the first female judge on the highest court in Ohio, was named repeatedly in those early years. Eight more followed, including Amalya Kearse, a federal appellate judge who was the first African American woman viewed as a potential Supreme Court nominee. Award-winning scholars Renee Knake Jefferson and Hannah Brenner Johnson cleverly weave together long-forgotten materials from presidential libraries and private archives to reveal the professional and personal lives of these accomplished women.