By Tony McVeigh
Frankfort, KY – History has been made in the Kentucky Supreme Court. Deputy Chief Justice Mary Noble of Lexington has become the first woman to preside over oral arguments in the high court. Afterwards, she was asked why women are just now getting such opportunities.
"Women were so delayed in being admitted into professional schools, that they just didn't get in the pipeline for advancement. That's happened in large numbers and up until this year, and for the past several years, there have been a slight majority of women attending law school."
Noble presided over a criminal case from which Chief Justice John Minton had recused himself. Noble and Justice Lisabeth Hughes Abramson are the only women on the seven-member Supreme Court. The first woman to ever serve on the high court was Sarah Combs, in 1993.