Mr. Bannock, it is absolutely not sexism to pick a candidate that achieves gender diversity when a woman is among the qualified candidates.  What your comment doesn't take into account is that all four candidates (2 men and 2 women) sent to Governor Walker were deemed the "tallest timbers" of the applicants by the Alaska Judicial Council and therefore are all qualified for appointment.  While it could be argued that it's sexist to say "take a woman over all other considerations regardless of her competency," that's not what is happening.  It isn't sexist to say since there are qualified women candidates up for consideration, it would be wise to pick one and make our Supreme Court comprised of members that more accurately represent the makeup of our state.