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D&I Changemaker:
Hon. Edwina G. Mendelson
Interview by John Caher
Senior Advisor for Strategic Communications
 Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Edwina G. Mendelson is tasked with implementing the recommendations of Secretary Jeh Johnson in his October 2020 report examining racial bias in the court system. In a new Diversity Dialogues podcast interview, Judge Mendelson offers a unique perspective on where we were, where we are and where we’re going—with a roadmap to the future.
Judge Edwina Mendelson wears a variety of hats in the court system. She’s the Deputy Chief Administrative Judge for Justice Initiatives, overseeing more than 300 problem-solving courts as director of the Office of Policy & Planning, the Child Welfare Court Improvement Project, and the Equal Justice in the Courts (EJIC) initiative. She describes her most recent project, implementing the recommendations of Secretary Johnson in his October 2020 report on institutional bias in the courts, as “the assignment of a lifetime.”
“I don’t hide my passion for equal justice,”
Judge Mendelson said in an interview for the court system’s podcast program, Amici.
“Our goal, our job, our mandate, is to eradicate racial intolerance at all levels of the court system. We have an obligation to educate our judges, educate our court personnel, to recognize instances of bias, whether it's conscious, explicit, express or implicit and unconscious. But we can't policy-away these thorny and difficult and long-standing issues. If we want to move the needle and move it in the right direction, it requires a strong commitment, and it requires a lasting commitment. This can't be ‘one and done’ work to tackle the thorny issues that face our society and face our courts today.”
To hear the full interview with Judge Mendelson, click on the link for the podcast or go to the transcript.
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