Evelyn Baker Lang

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Evelyn Baker Lang is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, played by Glenn Close, on the television serial drama The West Wing.

Professional Life

Lang was the first female Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in the West Wing's world. Seen as an extremely liberal judge, she was a non-contender for the appointment upon the death of a conservative Justice. However, she so impressed Josh Lyman and Toby Ziegler during her interview (which she correctly divined was merely a smoke-screen to scare the Republican-controlled Senate into confirming a less liberal nominee) that they fought for her to be placed on the short list. When Donna Moss told Josh that when her parents couldn't decide on what sort of cat to get, they got two, he saw an opportunity, and convinced Chief Justice Ashland, a liberal, to resign as well. Lang was then nominated and confirmed as Chief Justice, while Christopher Mulready, a conservative, was nominated and confirmed concurrently, "balancing" the court. However, in a brief scene where the two discussed gay marriage, Lang and Mulready proved they weren't perfectly situated along the liberal-conservative axis.

Personal Life

Lang had an abortion while in law school, which briefly threatened her nomination until President Jed Bartlet pointed out that it was legal ("post-Roe," as C.J. Cregg put it), and that he would not hold it against her.

Quotes

If you're Malkin, you're from Virginia, so you ask In re: Drury. I take you point by point from the doctor to the father to Casey to undue burden to equal protection back to Roe, at which point you can't remember the question and I drink my water for a minute while you regroup.