On December 5, 2017, Attorney Gwen-Marie Davis Hicks of GDH Law in Lanham, MD, along with a group of eleven other African American female attorneys from the Alliance of Black Women Attorneys of Maryland were admitted as members to the bar of the United States Supreme Court.

Judge Lynn Stewart Mays sponsored their admission and officially moved the names during the ceremony and Chief Justice John Roberts admitted the attorneys. They were also given a history lecture of the Supreme Court and served breakfast.

After the attorneys were sworn in to the Supreme Court, they were able to stay in the courtroom and observe a case of a Colorado Baker who refused to make a custom wedding cake for a gay couple. He claims that the First Amendment’s free speech and religious-exercise protections exempt him from state law outlawing discrimination against gay people.

Admission to the bar of the US Supreme Court is significant for several reasons. The US Supreme Court is the highest court in the land. It is recognition that these lawyers have achieved the competence and experience to allow them to try cases before the Supreme Court. Rules of the Supreme Court specify that at least one member of any legal team arguing a Supreme Court case must be a member of its bar. Additionally, membership in the Supreme Court bar allows lawyers who are admitted to access limited seating for those wishing to personally attend a Supreme Court hearing. While the general public usually waits in long lines to be seated if available, bar members have preferred seating directly behind the attorneys arguing the case. Members of the Supreme Court Bar are also provided access to the court’s library for research and study.

Being sworn into the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC was a milestone for Gwen-Marie Davis Hicks of GDH Law and a great opportunity to celebrate with other like-minded attorneys striving for excellence. For more information about GDH Law, visit www.gdhlawfirm.com