Women in the United States judiciary

File:Belle Leavitt Maine.jpg

Women have long faced significant barriers to entering the legal profession in the U.S., and any steps forward were frequently followed by setbacks. For example, in June 1869, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that Arabella Mansfield could not be denied a chance to take the bar exam because she was a woman. She took the exam and passed, becoming the first licensed female lawyer in the United States.{{Cite journal |last=Cady |first=Mark S. |date=2013 |title=THE VANGUARD OF EQUALITY: THE IOWA SUPREME COURT'S JOURNEY TO STAY AHEAD OF THE CURVE ON AN ARC BENDING TOWARDS JUSTICE |url=http://www.albanylawreview.org/Articles/Vol76_4/76.4.1991%20Cady.pdf |journal=Albany Law Review |volume=76 |pages=1991–2001}} However, just 6 years later, in 1875, the Wisconsin Supreme Court denied Lavinia Goodell admission to the state bar on the grounds that "[n]ature has tempered woman as little for the juridical conflicts of the court room, as for the physical conflicts of the battle field. Womanhood is moulded [sic] for gentler and better things."[http://www.uiowa.edu/~prslaw/courses/gender/goodell.pdf In Re Goodell] 39 Wis. 232 (1875); Supreme Court of Wisconsin; Retrieved July 31, 2012

In 1872, the United States Supreme Court affirmed a decision from the Supreme Court of Illinois that denied Myra Bradwell admission to the state bar. The state Supreme Court had reasoned that because state law invalidated any contract entered into by a married woman without the consent of her husband, women (most of whom would be married) could not adequately represent their clients. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, noting that even though some women might not actually be married, such women were the rare exceptions. The U.S. Supreme Court noted:

{{blockquote|The paramount destiny and mission of woman are to fulfil the noble and benign offices of wife and mother. This is the law of the Creator. And the rules of civil society must be adapted to the general constitution of things, and cannot be based upon exceptional cases.|Bradwell v. Illinois, 83 U.S. 130, 141-42 (1873).}}

Also in 1872, the Utah Bar admitted its first two women, Phoebe Couzins and Georgianna Snow.{{Cite web|url=http://historytogo.utah.gov/timeline/statehood.html|title=Statehood - Timeline| website=historytogo.utah.gov|access-date=2018-05-20}}

In 1873, Belva Lockwood was admitted to the Washington, D.C., bar after a yearlong dispute. In 1878, Clara Shortridge Foltz became the first woman to be admitted to practice law in the state of California. To do so, she had to lobby the state legislature to remove the gender restriction in the law. Nonetheless, after her legislative success, she was still denied admission to the state's Hastings College of Law on the grounds that women would "distract the attention of the male students." Foltz only gained admission to the state school after arguing her case to the California Supreme Court.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

In Washington, D.C., Belva Lockwood lobbied Congress on three separate occasions to change the U.S. Supreme Court admissions rules to allow a woman to argue before the court. Her efforts succeeded. Lockwood was sworn in as the first woman member of the U.S. Supreme Court bar on March 3, 1879. Late in 1880, she became the first woman lawyer to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.{{cite news|first=Jill|last=Norgren|title= Belva Lockwood, Blazing the Trail for Women in Law|url=https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/spring/belva-lockwood-1.html| work=Prologue Magazine |publisher=U.S. Archives|year=2005 |access-date=July 31, 2012}}

Even as women began to practice law, there were still few female judges. In 1884, the District of Columbia trial court appointed Marilla Ricker to the position of United States Commissioner. In 1886, the first woman to graduate from Pennsylvania Law School was appointed master in chancery for the city of Philadelphia. By 1907, Evanston, Illinois elected a woman, Catherine Waugh McCulloch to serve as a justice of the peace.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

File:GBullockClass.jpg's graduating law school class, 1912]]

Mary Bartelme was appointed assistant judge in Cook County, Illinois in 1913, where she presided over court cases involving juveniles and was referred to at that time as, "America's only woman judge", by The New York Times.{{Cite web |title=Judge Mary A. [Mary Margaret] Bartelme, of Illinois, is second vice-chairman of the National Woman's Party. She is the judge of the Children's Night Court of Chicago. |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/mnwp.148003/ |website=Library of Congress |access-date=2020-05-26}} In 1914, Georgia Bullock was appointed the "woman judge" of Los Angeles, in charge of a court segregated by sex where "she would serve as a model of Victorian ideals of womanhood for female misdemeanants".{{Cite web| url=http://cclawyer.cccba.org/2013/08/women-and-the-judiciary/|title=Women and the Judiciary: Contra Costa Lawyer Online|website=cclawyer.cccba.org|access-date=2018-05-20}}

Ratified in 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment granted women the right to vote. During this time, women began assuming judgeships, through both appointment and election. One such woman was Mary O'Toole, who became the first woman municipal judge of the United States, when she was appointed Judge of the Municipal Court of Washington, D.C. by President Harding in 1921.{{Cite news|url=https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/57581572/|title=17 May 1931, Page 84 - The Brooklyn Daily Eagle at Newspapers.com|work=Brooklyn Public Library|access-date=2017-05-10| language=en}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.wbadc.org/content.asp?contentid=205| title=WBADC| website=www.wbadc.org|language=en|access-date=2017-05-10}} In 1925, the first female lawyer in California, Clara Shortridge Foltz, was considered for a federal judgeship at the age of 76. Florence E. Allen became both the first woman to be elected to the positions of general jurisdiction court in 1920 and the first female state appellate judge through her election to the Ohio Supreme Court in 1922. She later became the first female federal appellate judge, appointed to the 6th Circuit in 1933. The Los Angeles Women's Judge Georgia Bullock was finally appointed to an 'official' judgeship in 1931. The first female judge to serve on a federal district court, Burnita Shelton Matthews, was appointed in 1949 to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Barring women from practicing law was prohibited in the U.S. in 1971.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111170317/https://www.wcpo.com/news/state/state-ohio/nettie-and-florence-cronise-ohios-first-female-lawyers-honored-in-tiffin|archive-date=11 November 2013| url=http://www.wcpo.com/news/state/state-ohio/nettie-and-florence-cronise-ohios-first-female-lawyers-honored-in-tiffin|date=11 November 2013|title=Nettie and Florence Cronise, Ohio's first female lawyers, honored in Tiffin}} In 1975, Julia Cooper Mack was appointed to the D.C. Court of Appeals, making her the first woman of color, and only the eighth woman total, to be appointed to a court of last resort. By 1993, 60 women had served on the highest court in forty states, the District, and the federal courts. As of 2001,{{cite web|url=http://www.abanet.org/women/glance.pdf|archive-date=11 April 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030411052008/http://www.abanet.org/women/glance.pdf|title=Commission on Women in the Profession|work=ABA}} women filled 26.3% of the judgeships on state courts of last resort, 19.2% of federal district court judgeships, 20.1% of federal appellate judgeships, and as of 2018, 33.3% of the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1981, Sandra Day O'Connor was the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. She received unanimous Senate approval.{{Cite web|url=https://www.biography.com/law-figure/sandra-day-oconnor| title=Sandra Day O'Connor|website=Biography| date=December 2023}} Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, commenting on women pursuing careers, observed that "women professionals still have primary responsibility for the children and the housekeeping, spending roughly twice as much time on these cares as do their professional husbands."{{Cite news| url=http://msmagazine.com/blog/2010/06/30/why-do-women-judicial-candidates-get-questioned-on-their-sex-lives/| title=Why Do Women Judicial Candidates Get Questioned on Their Sex Lives? - Ms. Magazine Blog| date=2010-06-30|work=Ms. Magazine Blog|access-date=2018-05-20|language=en-US}}

In 1992, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit convened the first federal all-female three-judge panel, composed of Sixth Circuit judges Alice M. Batchelder and Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy, alongside the Eastern District of Michigan's Anna Diggs Taylor, sitting by designation.{{cite news|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ien.35556026340844&view=1up&seq=239| title=6th Circuit Convenes First All Female Panel|work=The Third Branch|volume=24|number=5|date=May 1992}}

In the 1980s and 1990s, women began to experience an increase in their access the courts, as employees, judges, and court-users. This increase in access, along with a renewed interest in uncovering underlying discrimination, led many courts to consider the experience that women were having in the traditionally male-dominated court system. In the early 1980s the National Organization for Women Legal Defense and Education Fund and the National Association of Women Judges banded together to push the state and federal courts to review a perceived bias against women that they believed existed in the courts. From 1982 to 1984, the New Jersey Supreme Court created and ran the nation's first official Task Force on Women in the Courts to "investigate the extent to which gender bias exists in the New Jersey judicial branch, and to develop an education program to eliminate any such bias". The task force found "significant gender bias," prompting the New Jersey Chief Justice to order the task force to continue its work indefinitely. The New Jersey report garnered significant public attention and prompted other states to consider similar studies in their own judicial branches.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

At a 1988 joint meeting of the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators the participants formulated resolutions directing each chief justice to create a task force in the judge's jurisdiction to study "gender bias and minority concerns". This effort resulted in a comprehensive overview of issues impacting women in the various state judiciaries. Starting in 1992 with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the federal judiciary followed suit and sought to investigate any gender bias that might exist in the courts and seek ways to remedy the problems. The progress made by these courts was almost terminated in 1995, when the new Republican majority that swept into Congress under the Contract with America sought to cut off funding that had been provided to run these task forces on the federal level. The new majority "believed that bias task forces by the federal judiciary were both unnecessary and undesirable". However, the appropriation remained intact and tasks forces, such as Chief Judge Sloviter's Third Circuit Task Force, could continue to pursue their charters.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Since 1992, women's representation in law school classes has approached 50%.{{Cite web| url=https://www.americanbar.org/groups/women/resources/statistics.html|title=Statistics {{!}} Commission on Women in the Profession|website=www.americanbar.org|access-date=2018-05-20}} And by 2021, women constituted 55% of law students, 45% of law faculty, and 42% of law deans.{{Cite journal |url=https://academic.oup.com/jla/article/15/1/48/7246687 |access-date=2023-10-10 |doi=10.1093/jla/laad005 |title=Women in U.S. Law Schools, 1948–2021 |date=2023 |last1=Katz |first1=Elizabeth D. |last2=Rozema |first2=Kyle |last3=Sanga |first3=Sarath |journal=Journal of Legal Analysis |volume=15 |pages=48–78 |doi-access=free }} However, the percentage of female federal judges is fairly lower. As of 2016, only 36% of judges on the federal courts of appeals were women, that is 60 out of 167 active judges. Women represented only 15% of judges on the Third Circuit, only 20% of judges on the Eight Circuit and only 25% of judges on the Tenth Circuit. As for women of color, there is even a smaller number. Only 12 women (7% of judges) of color were on the U.S. courts of appeals.{{Cite web| url=https://nwlc.org/resources/women-federal-judiciary-still-long-way-go/|title=Women in the Federal Judiciary: Still A Long Way to Go}}

In addition to other task forces, the Ninth Circuit's report found that many women believe that a major hindrance to attaining a judicial position is the lack of women "power players" in the connected "old boys' clubs" that often influence judicial appointments. Women judges and women lawyers attribute male-domination of the judiciary in large part to the exclusion of women from the networks that influence judicial appointments. Women lawyers attribute the small number of women appointed to bench and bar committees to the exclusion of women from formal and informal selection processes. A large proportion of women lawyers believe that men have a better chance than women to be promoted to law firm partnerships and to equivalent positions in public law organizations. (See Sandra Day O'Connor, The Effects of Gender in the Federal Courts: The Final Report of the Ninth Circuit Gender Bias Task Force: The Quality of Justice, 67 S. Cal. L. Rev. 745, 786-87 (1994).){{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Many of the task forces found both explicit and implicit unacceptable treatment of female lawyers by male judges. For instance, in 1988, a senior status federal district court judge refused to address a female attorney as 'Ms.' and threatened to hold her in contempt if she persisted in using her birth name rather than her married name.{{Cite journal|last=Hecht|first=Schafran, Lynn| date=1989| title=Gender Bias in the Courts: Time Is Not the Cure| url=https://dspace2.creighton.edu/xmlui/handle/10504/39768|language=en}} Women judges also report hearing more disparaging remarks{{Clarification needed|reason=What type of disparaging remarks? Sexist, overall insults about credibility, etc?|date=August 2022}} than male judges do.{{Cite journal| last1=Seron| first1=Caroll| last2=Frankel| first2=Martin| last3=Muzzio| first3=Douglas| last4=Pereira| first4=Joseph| last5=Van Ryzin|first5=Gregg|date=1997|title=A Report of the Perceptions and Experiences of Lawyers, Judges, and Court Employees Concerning Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Federal Courts of the Second Circuit of the United States|journal=Annual Survey of American Law}}

• First female justice of the peace: Esther Hobart Morris in 1870{{Cite news |title=First woman judge dies in Wyoming - Apr 02, 1902 - HISTORY.com |url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-woman-judge-dies-in-wyoming |access-date=2017-09-27 |work=HISTORY.com}}
• First elected female justice of the peace: Catherine Waugh McCulloch (1886) in 1907{{Cite book |last=Childs |first=Mary Louise |url=https://archive.org/details/actualgovernment00chilrich |title=Actual Government in Illinois |date=1917 |publisher=Century Company |language=en}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OpEvAQAAIAAJ |title=Illinois Bar Journal |date=1990 |publisher=Illinois State Bar Association. |language=en}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=308vWCAQkRYC |title=Illinois History |date=1987 |publisher=Illinois State Historical Library |language=en}}
• First female probate judge: Mary H. Cooper in 1908:{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B8wQAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA212 |title=National Municipal Review |date=1915 |publisher=National Municipal League |language=en}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SNhKAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA73 |title=The Voter |date=1910 |publisher=Voter Company |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=June 1, 1912 |title=Sayings, Doings, Achievements, Sufferings, Hopes and Fears of Mankind |url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=SJP19120601.2.1&e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN--------0- |access-date=2019-07-11 |website=www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J0xEAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA4 |title=The W.B.A. Review |date=1910 |publisher=Woman's Benefit Association |language=en}}
• First female juvenile judge: Mary Bartelme (1894) in 1913{{Cite web |title=Judge Mary A. [Mary Margaret] Bartelme, of Illinois, is second vice-chairman of the National Woman's Party. She is the judge of the Children's Night Court of Chicago. |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/mnwp.148003/ |access-date=2020-05-26 |website=Library of Congress}}
• First female elected judge: Florence E. Allen (1914) in 1920{{Cite web |date=2015-03-06 |others=Buchanan, Kelly |title=Women in History: Lawyers and Judges {{!}} In Custodia Legis: Law Librarians of Congress |url=https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2015/03/women-in-history-lawyers-and-judges/ |access-date=2017-09-27 |website=blogs.loc.gov |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Judge Florence Allen Biography - Rocky Mountain National Park (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/romo/judge_florence_allen_biography.htm |access-date=2017-09-27 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Hogan |first=Sean O. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ong5k8n97P4C&pg=PA140 |title=The Judicial Branch of State Government |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2006 |isbn=9781851097517}}
• First female municipal judge: Mary O'Toole (1914) in 1921{{Cite book |last1=Robinson |first1=Alice Wade |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L4nvA-RO2soC |title=Women at Work: A Tour Among Careers |last2=Maule |first2=Frances |date=1939 |publisher=New York Career Tours |language=en}}
• First female police judge: Julia W. Ker (1912) in 1926{{Cite web |date=February 23, 2015 |title=History of 1063 Block |url=https://des.wa.gov/sites/default/files/public/documents/About/1063/history/HistoryBlock2232015.pdf}}{{Cite book |last=Gillmore |first=Inez Haynes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sCgqAAAAYAAJ |title=Angels and Amazons: A Hundred Years of American Women |date=1933 |publisher=Doubleday, Doran, Incorporated |language=en}}
• First African American female: Jane Bolin (1932) in 1939{{Cite news |date=2007-01-13 |title=Jane Bolin, 98; first black woman judge in America |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jan-13-me-bolin13-story.html |access-date=2018-01-07 |work=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US |issn=0458-3035 |agency=Associated Press}}
• First sisters to simultaneously serve as judges: Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy (1947) and Margaret G. Schaeffer (1948){{Cite web |date=2013-04-13 |title=Former 47th District Court Judge Margaret Schaeffer Dies at 92 |url=https://patch.com/michigan/farmington-mi/former-47th-district-court-judge-margaret-schaeffer-dies-at-92 |access-date=2019-01-02 |website=Farmington-Farmington Hills, MI Patch |language=en}}
• First African American female (elected judge): Geraldine Bledsoe Ford in 1966{{Cite journal |last=Crump-Gibson |first=Jehan |date=May 2018 |title=A Tribute to Firsts: Black Female Lawyers in Michigan |url=https://www.michbar.org/file/barjournal/article/documents/pdf4article3369.pdf |journal=Michigan Bar Journal}}
• First Hispanic American female (county court judge): Dorothy Comstock Riley in 1972{{Cite web |title=Dorothy Comstock Riley |url=http://www.micourthistory.org/justices/dorothy-riley/ |access-date=2019-01-12 |website=www.micourthistory.org}}{{Cite journal |last=Atencio |first=Dolores S. |date=2023 |title=LUMINARIAS: AN EMPIRICAL PORTRAIT OF THE FIRST GENERATION OF LATINA LAWYERS 1880–1980 |url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt43f12635/qt43f12635.pdf?t=s1n7f7 |journal=Chicanx-Latinx Law Review |volume=39 |issue=1}}
• First African American female (probate court):{{Cite book |title=Black Firsts: 4,000 Ground-Breaking and Pioneering Historical Events |date=December 2012 |publisher=Visible Ink Press |location=United Kingdom |pages=233}} Edith Jacqueline Ingram Grant in 1973
• First Latino American female: Frances Munoz (1972) in 1978{{Cite web |title=Hispanic Bar Association of Orange County - About |url=https://www.ochba.org/about |access-date=2018-01-23 |website=www.ochba.org |language=en}}{{Cite news |title=The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California on February 17, 1980 · Page 36 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/62649147/ |access-date=2018-01-23 |work=Newspapers.com |language=en}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N9IVAQAAIAAJ |title=Berkeley La Raza Law Journal |date=2002 |publisher=University of California, Berkeley, School of Law |language=en}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U61LAQAAMAAJ |title=Informational Hearing, the Judicial Selection Process |date=2007 |publisher=Senate Publications & Flags |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=A Legacy of Trailblazers |url=https://www.swlaw.edu/alumni-careers/alumni/trailblazers |access-date=2018-01-23 |website=Southwestern Law School |language=en-US}}
• First openly lesbian: Abby Soven in 1978
• First Chinese American female: Patricia A. Yim Cowett (1972) in 1979{{Cite web |date=May 5, 2008 |title=Retired San Diego Judge to Receive CWL's Joan Dempsey Klein Award |url=http://www.metnews.com/articles/2008/cwl050508.htm |website=www.metnews.com}}{{Cite news |last=Report |first=Daily Transcript Staff |date=2013-07-09 |title=Retired judge Yim Cowett to receive Asian Heritage Award |url=http://www.sddt.com/News/article.cfm?SourceCode=20130709czf |access-date=2018-01-24 |work=The Daily Transcript |language=en-US |archive-date=2018-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180125020020/http://www.sddt.com/News/article.cfm?SourceCode=20130709czf |url-status=dead }}{{Cite journal |last=Lim |first=Lillian |date=Spring 2000 |title=Chinese American Trailblazers in the Law |url=https://www.sdchm.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Spring2000.pdf |journal=San Diego Chinese Historical Society and Museum |access-date=2024-02-06 |archive-date=2018-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180125020124/https://www.sdchm.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Spring2000.pdf |url-status=dead }}
• First Native American (Ojibwe) female (federal judge): Margaret Treuer (1977) in 1983{{Cite book |last=Treuer |first=Anton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z9xFpixwsUUC |title=Ojibwe in Minnesota |date=2010 |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society |isbn=9780873517683 |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=N.D. judges participate in 'Color of Justice' anniversary event |url=http://www.ndcourts.gov/court/news/color1012.htm |access-date=2018-02-05 |website=www.ndcourts.gov |language=EN |archive-date=2018-02-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180207005128/http://www.ndcourts.gov/court/news/color1012.htm |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web |title='Heartbeat Of Wounded Knee' Demystifies The Modern Native Experience |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/01/19/686830482/heartbeat-of-wounded-knee-demystifies-the-modern-native-experience |access-date=2020-06-13 |website=NPR.org |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Margaret Seelye Treuer, Minnesota's first Ojibwe judge, dies at 76 |url=https://www.startribune.com/margaret-seelye-treuer-minnesota-s-first-ojibwe-judge-dies-at-76/569487652/ |access-date=2020-06-13 |website=Star Tribune|date=9 April 2020 }}{{Cite web |date=November 30, 2016 |title=APPENDIX A: GENERAL RULES OF PRACTICE FOR THE DISTRICT COURTS |url=http://www.mncourts.gov/mncourtsgov/media/Tribal-Orders/Appendix-A-to-Forum-Petition-filed-Nov-30-2016.pdf |website=Minnesota Courts}}
• First Filipino American female: Lillian Y. Lim (1977) in 1986{{Cite web |title=HON. LILLIAN Y LIM (RET.) '77 |url=https://www.tjsl.edu/about-tjsl/trustees/lillian-y-lim |website=Thomas Jefferson School of Law |access-date=2024-02-06 |archive-date=2023-07-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230713042716/https://www.tjsl.edu/about-tjsl/trustees/lillian-y-lim |url-status=dead }}{{Cite book |last1=Patacsil |first1=Judy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x8sRIb1vuooC |title=Filipinos in San Diego |last2=Guevarra |first2=Rudy Jr. |last3=Tuyay |first3=Felix |date=2010 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=9780738580012 |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=August 1, 2007 |title=Superior Court Judge Lillian Y. Lim Retires |url=http://www.sdcourt.ca.gov/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/SDCOURT/GENERALINFORMATION/NEWS/NEWSRELEASES/2007_NEWS_RELEASES/08-01%20-%20JUDGE%20LIM%20RETIRES.PDF |website=Superior Court of California - County of San Diego}}
• First Vietnamese American female: Wendy Duong (1984) in 1992{{Cite book |last1=Zhao |first1=Xiaojian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3AxIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA353 |title=Asian Americans: An Encyclopedia of Social, Cultural, Economic, and Political History [3 volumes]: An Encyclopedia of Social, Cultural, Economic, and Political History |last2=Ph.D |first2=Edward J. W. Park |date=2013-11-26 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781598842401 |language=en}}
• First Dominican American (female) elected: Faviola Soto (1979) in 1994{{Cite web |title=Patria Frias-Colon '90 sworn in as Brooklyn's first elected Dominican judge |url=https://www.rochester.edu/alumni/news/patria-frias-colon-90-sworn-in-as-brooklyns-first-elected-dominican-judge |access-date=2018-02-24 |website=University of Rochester Alumni |language=en |archive-date=2018-02-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180225065026/https://www.rochester.edu/alumni/news/patria-frias-colon-90-sworn-in-as-brooklyns-first-elected-dominican-judge |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web |title=Patria Frias-Colon '90 sworn in as Brooklyn's first elected Dominican judge |url=https://www.rochester.edu/alumni/news/patria-frias-colon-90-sworn-in-as-brooklyns-first-elected-dominican-judge |access-date=2022-04-12 |website=University of Rochester Alumni |language=en |archive-date=2021-10-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211014132643/https://www.rochester.edu/alumni/news/patria-frias-colon-90-sworn-in-as-brooklyns-first-elected-dominican-judge |url-status=dead }}
• First Muslim American female to preside over an American courtroom: Zakia Mahasa in 1997{{Cite web |title=The Sisters' Struggle Is Ours - America's First Muslimah Judge |url=https://www.portofharlem.net/printissuesarchives/issues/nov2001apr2002.html |access-date=2022-04-26 |website=www.portofharlem.net}}{{Cite web |title=Judge in Detroit is Not First Muslim Woman Judge in U.S. |url=https://hwpi.harvard.edu/pluralismarchive/news/judge-detroit-not-first-muslim-woman-judge-us |access-date=2022-04-26 |website=hwpi.harvard.edu |language=en}}
• First Indian American female: Rena M. Van Tine (1986) in 2001{{Cite book |last=Koval |first=John P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NtKHGOCFB10C |title=The New Chicago: A Social and Cultural Analysis |date=2006 |publisher=Temple University Press |isbn=9781592137725 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Congress |first=United States |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WICCiXCc77sC |title=Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress |date=2001 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Foundation Board - South Asian Bar Association of Chicago |url=http://sabachicago.org/saba-chicago-foundation/foundation-board/ |access-date=2018-01-24 |website=sabachicago.org |language=en-US |archive-date=2018-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180125090103/http://sabachicago.org/saba-chicago-foundation/foundation-board/ |url-status=dead }}
• First Hispanic American (female) to preside as an arbitrator on an American television court show: Marilyn Milian in 2001{{Cite web |date=2013-09-21 |title=The People's Court {{!}} Judge Milian |url=http://peoplescourt.warnerbros.com/about/judge.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921112717/http://peoplescourt.warnerbros.com/about/judge.html |archive-date=2013-09-21 |access-date=2022-02-24}}Millian served as a Judge of the Miami Circuit Court prior to her television debut.
• First Korean American female: Jeannie Hong (1993) in 2002{{Cite book |last=Zhao |first=Xiaojian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SQPRCA9S9WAC&pg=PA121 |title=Asian American Chronology: Chronologies of the American Mosaic |date=2009 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9780313348754 |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Ly |first=Phuong |date=2002-12-26 |title=Ethnic Papers Seeking To Make Voices Heard |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2002/12/26/ethnic-papers-seeking-to-make-voices-heard/c889dd61-c738-48a9-8f6a-3896eb5bd9a4/ |access-date=2018-01-23 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}{{Cite journal |last=Khan |first=Sabrina |date=2008 |title=Spotlights: Mayda Colon Tsaknis, the Honorable Jeannie J. Hong, and Jennifer Maree |url=http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1048&context=tma |journal=The Modern American |volume=4 |issue=2}}
• First Muslim American female: Mona K. Majzoub in 2004{{Cite book |last1=Stange |first1=Mary Zeiss |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bOkPjFQoBj8C |title=Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World |last2=Oyster |first2=Carol K. |last3=Sloan |first3=Jane E. |date=2011-02-23 |publisher=SAGE |isbn=978-1-4129-7685-5 |language=en}}
• First Colombian American (female): Catalina M. Avalos in 2005{{Cite web |title=Colombian American Bar to honor Avalos |url=https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-news/colombian-american-bar-to-honor-avalos/ |access-date=2022-05-04 |website=The Florida Bar |language=en-US}}
• First Arab American female: Charlene Mekled Elder in 2006{{Cite web |title=First Muslim Woman Takes the Bench in Detroit |url=https://hwpi.harvard.edu/pluralismarchive/news/first-muslim-woman-takes-bench-detroit |access-date=2022-04-26 |website=hwpi.harvard.edu |language=en}}
• First Ethiopian American (female): Nina Ashenafi-Richardson in 2008{{Cite web |title=LEON COUNTY JUDGE NINA ASHENAFI-RICHARDSON TO RECEIVE DISTINGUISHED JUDICIAL SERVICE PRO BONO AWARD – The Florida Bar |url=https://www.floridabar.org/news-release/pro-bono/leon-county-judge-nina-ashenafi-richardson-to-receive-distinguished-judicial-service-pro-bono-award/ |access-date=2022-03-12 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Nina Ashenafi Richardson |url=http://fcsw.net/dt_team/judge-nina-ashenafi-richardson/ |access-date=2022-03-12 |website=Florida Commission on the Status of Women |language=en |archive-date=2021-01-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120024219/http://fcsw.net/dt_team/judge-nina-ashenafi-richardson/ |url-status=dead }}
• First Ecuadorian American (female) elected: Carmen Velasquez in 2009{{Cite web |title=Carmen R. Velasquez |url=https://www.carnegie.org/awards/honoree/carmen-r-velasquez/ |access-date=2022-05-04 |website=Carnegie Corporation of New York |language=en}}
• First known Pakistani American female: Pamela Leeming in 2009{{Cite web |date=October 24, 2018 |title=Judicial Guide Glossary |url=https://issuu.com/southsideweekly/docs/ssw_10-24-18_web |access-date=2019-07-17 |website=South Side Weekly |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2011 |title=Asian American Compass: A Guide to Navigating the Community |url=http://www.advancingjustice-chicago.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/aai_compass_2-27-2011.pdf |website=Asian American Institute}}
• First transgender woman: Phyllis Frye (1981) in 2010{{Cite news |others=Jenny B. Davis |title=10 Questions: Groundbreaking transgender judge happily passes the torch in post-Caitlyn age |url=http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/10_questions_groundbreaking_transgender_judge_happily_passes_the_torch_in_p |access-date=2018-01-03 |work=ABA Journal |language=en}}{{Cite news |title=Transgender judge Phyllis Frye helped put the 'T' in LGBTQ |url=http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-october-27-2015-1.3290171/transgender-judge-phyllis-frye-helped-put-the-t-in-lgbtq-1.3290269 |access-date=2018-01-03 |work=CBC Radio |language=en}}
• First Egyptian American female elected: Sherrie Mikhail Miday (2001) in 2016{{Cite news |date=2017-01-23 |title=Meet the first Egyptian-American judge elected in US - Egypt Independent |url=http://www.egyptindependent.com/meet-first-egyptian-american-judge-elected-us/ |access-date=2018-01-28 |work=Egypt Independent |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=2016 Arab American Candidate: Sherrie Miday - Arab American Institute |url=http://www.aaiusa.org/2016_arab_american_candidate_sherrie_miday |access-date=2018-01-28 |website=www.aaiusa.org |archive-date=2018-01-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180128132834/http://www.aaiusa.org/2016_arab_american_candidate_sherrie_miday |url-status=dead }}{{Cite news |date=2017-01-26 |title=Meet the first Egyptian-American judge elected in US |url=http://www.arabamerica.com/meet-first-egyptian-american-judge-elected-us/ |access-date=2018-01-28 |work=Arab America |language=en-US}}
• First Hasidic Jewish American female elected: Rachel Freier (2006) in 2017{{Cite news |title=Trailblazing Hasidic woman judge: 'It's the American dream' |url=https://apnews.com/237fc260da694fd5b27acfadbd58f5b9/Trailblazing-Hasidic-woman-judge:-'It's-the-American-dream? |access-date=2018-02-03 |work=AP News |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Rachel Freier '05 Takes Office as Nation's First Hasidic Woman as Civil Court Judge |url=https://www.brooklaw.edu/newsandevents/news/2017/01-03-2017b |access-date=2018-02-03 |website=www.brooklaw.edu}}
• First Hmong American females: Kashoua "Kristy" Yang (2009) and Sophia Y. Vuelo (1999) in 2017{{Cite web |last=staff |first=Madison365 |title=Kristy Yang, First Hmong American Woman Judge, Will Highlight Madison College/Women LEAD Event |url=https://madison365.com/kristy-yang-first-hmong-american-woman-judge-will-highlight-madison-college-women-lead-event/ |access-date=2018-12-26 |website=Madison365 |date=March 2018 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2017-04-05 |title=Judge Elected In Milwaukee County Is First Female Hmong-American On The Bench |url=https://www.wpr.org/judge-elected-milwaukee-county-first-female-hmong-american-bench |access-date=2018-12-26 |website=Wisconsin Public Radio |language=en}}{{Cite news |date=2017-12-02 |title=St. Paul lawyer is state's first judge of Hmong descent |url=https://www.twincities.com/2017/12/01/st-paul-lawyer-is-states-first-judge-of-hmong-descent/ |access-date=2018-01-12 |work=Twin Cities |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Alumna Appointed as First Hmong Minnesota Judge {{!}} Inside Hamline {{!}} Hamline University |url=https://www.hamline.edu/inside/2017/alumna-hmong-judge/ |access-date=2018-01-12 |website=www.hamline.edu |archive-date=2018-01-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180112214658/https://www.hamline.edu/inside/2017/alumna-hmong-judge/ |url-status=dead }}{{Cite news |title=State's 1st Hmong-American Judge on Journey from Laos to Minnesota's Judicial System |url=http://kstp.com/news/minnesota-first-hmong-american-judge-sophia-vuelo-describes-journey-from-laotian-refugee-to-us-judicial-system/4744702/ |access-date=2018-01-26 |work=KSTP |language=en |archive-date=2018-01-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127083806/http://kstp.com/news/minnesota-first-hmong-american-judge-sophia-vuelo-describes-journey-from-laotian-refugee-to-us-judicial-system/4744702/ |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web |title=Governor Dayton Appoints Sophia Y. Vuelo to Fill Second Judicial District Vacancy |url=https://mn.gov/governor/newsroom/?id=1055-319303 |access-date=2018-01-26 |website=Office of Governor Mark Dayton and Lt. Governor Tina Smith |language=en}}
• First Sikh female: Neetu Badhan Smith in 2017{{Cite web |title=Governor Brown Appoints Nine to Los Angeles County Superior Court | Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. |url=https://www.ca.gov/archive/gov39/2017/05/22/news19797/index.html |website=www.ca.gov}}{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2018 |title=Ex-NFL player and Harvard-Westlake alumnus pleads not guilty to charges of making criminal threats |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-threats-nfl-jonathan-martin-20180320-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times}}
• First Cambodian American (female): Jana Seng in 2018{{Cite web |last=Santiago |first=Stephanie |date=2024-05-01 |title=President's Message - May 2024 |url=https://wlala.org/presidents-message-may-2024/ |access-date=2024-06-03 |website=WLALA |language=en-US}}
• First Armenian-born (female): Amy Ashvanian in 2018{{Cite web |title=Armenui Amy Ashvanian: First-Ever Armenian-Born Judge Making History in the U.S. – Asbarez.com |url=https://ground.news/article/armenui-amy-ashvanian-first-ever-armenian-born-judge-making-history-in-the-us-asbarezcom |access-date=2024-06-06 |website=Ground News |language=en}}
• First Indonesian American female: Marissa Hutabarat (2010) in 2020{{Cite web |last= |title=Loyno Magazine Fall 2020 |url=https://issuu.com/loyola-university-new-orleans/docs/loyno20-09_loyno-magazine_fall2020_r13_issuu |access-date=2021-03-11 |website=Issuu |date=11 November 2020 |language=en}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=American 'Batak' takes office as New Orleans judge |url=https://www.thejakartapost.com/life/2020/09/23/american-batak-takes-office-as-new-orleans-judge.html |access-date=2021-03-11 |website=The Jakarta Post |date= 16 August 2020|language=en}}
• First Tibetan American (female): Tsering Cornell in 2022{{Cite web |title=Clark County swears in its first Asian American judge |url=https://www.columbian.com/news/2022/jul/01/clark-county-swears-in-its-first-asian-american-judge/ |access-date=2022-07-22 |website=The Columbian |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2022-05-13 |title=Tibetan Woman Appointed Superior Court Judge in USA |url=https://www.tibetanjournal.com/tibetan-woman-appointed-superior-court-judge-in-usa/ |access-date=2022-07-22 |website=Tibetan Journal |language=en-US}}
• First Laotian American (female): Chanpone Sinlapasai in 2022{{Cite web |last=De Dios |first=Austin |date=2022-12-17 |title=Oregon appoints the first Laotian judge in the United States |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2022/12/oregon-appoints-the-first-laotian-judge-in-the-united-states.html |access-date=2023-04-28 |website=oregonlive |language=en}}
• First hijab-wearing:{{Cite web |date=2023-03-29 |title=Woman born in Syria makes history as first hijab-wearing Superior Court judge in the US |url=https://arab.news/pkwsa |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Arab News |language=en}} Nadia Kahf in 2023

• First female: Arleigh M. Woods (1953) in 1980{{Cite web |title=Arleigh M. Woods '53 |url=https://www.swlaw.edu/alumni-careers/alumni/trailblazers/arleigh-m-woods-53 |access-date=2018-01-23 |website=Southwestern Law School |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |date=2012-03-29 |title=African American Women Appeal Court Justices - Los Angeles Sentinel |url=https://lasentinel.net/african-american-women-appeal-court-justices.html |access-date=2018-01-23 |work=Los Angeles Sentinel |language=en-US}}

• First female: Florence E. Allen (1914) in 1922
• First female to serve as chief justice: Lorna E. Lockwood (1925) in 1970{{Cite book |last=Weatherford |first=Doris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wW5wumFHKSEC&q=henrietta+pettijohn+first+lawyer&pg=SL11-PA489 |title=Women in American Politics: History and Milestones |date=2012-01-20 |publisher=SAGE |isbn=9781608710072 |language=en}}
• First Hispanic American female: Dorothy Comstock Riley in 1982
• First Japanese American female: Paula A. Nakayama in 1993
• First African American female to serve as chief justice: Leah Ward Sears (1980) in 2005{{Cite news |title=Georgia High Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4781681 |access-date=2018-01-17 |work=NPR.org |language=en}}
• First openly lesbian: Virginia Linder (1980) in 2007{{Cite news |title=Virginia Linder, first woman elected to Oregon Supreme Court, set to retire |url=http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/08/virginia_linder_first_woman_el.html |access-date=2018-01-15 |work=OregonLive.com |language=en-US}}
• First openly lesbian to serve as chief justice: Maite Oronoz Rodríguez (2001) in 2016{{Cite web |date=2016-02-13 |title=First openly lesbian Chief Justice nominated to Puerto Rican Supreme Court |url=https://windycitytimes.com/2016/02/13/first-openly-lesbian-chief-justice-nominated-to-puerto-rican-supreme-court/ |access-date=2024-12-11 |website=Windy City Times |language=en-US}}
• First Native American (female): Anne McKeig in 2016{{Cite book |last1=Hernandez |first1=Samantha L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oFl0DwAAQBAJ |title=Race, Gender, Sexuality, and the Politics of the American Judiciary |last2=Navarro |first2=Sharon A. |date=2018-11-29 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-56792-3 |language=en}}

• First female (federal judge): Kathryn Sellers (1911) in 1918{{Cite book |last=Burrell |first=Barbara C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bzLCEhRx39wC&pg=PA235 |title=Women and Political Participation: A Reference Handbook |date=2004 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781851095926 |language=en |author-link=Barbara Burrell}}
• First African American female (federal judge): Constance Baker Motley (1946) in 1966{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t0IEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA13 |title=The Crisis |date=December 2005 |publisher=The Crisis Publishing Company, Inc. |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Constance Baker Motley: Black History Month profile |url=https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/02/us/little-known-black-history-figures/profile-constance-baker-motley.html |access-date=2021-02-10 |website=www.cnn.com}}{{Cite web |last=Hoffman |first=Brian Gene |title=Constance Baker Motley (1921-2005) |date=12 March 2008 |url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/motley-constance-baker-1921-2005/ |access-date=2021-02-10 |language=en-US}}
• First Italian American female (federal judge): Veronica DiCarlo Wicker{{Cite web |title=Veronica DiCarlo Wicker {{!}} Eastern District of Louisiana {{!}} United States District Court |url=http://www.laed.uscourts.gov/court-history/judges/wicker |access-date=2022-03-07 |website=www.laed.uscourts.gov}}
• First African American female (court of last resort): Julia Cooper Mack (1951) in 1975{{Cite news |last=Schudel |first=-Matt |date=2014-01-30 |title=Julia Cooper Mack, D.C. appellate judge, dies at 93 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/julia-cooper-mack-dc-appellate-judge-dies-at-93/2014/01/30/873b027c-8932-11e3-a5bd-844629433ba3_story.html |access-date=2018-01-12 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}
• First Mexican American female (federal judge): Irma Elsa Gonzalez (1973) in 1984{{Cite web |last=Chavez |first=Virginia L. |date=Spring 1997 |title=A Biographical Piece on Irma Elsa Gonzalez: The First Mexican-American Woman Federal Judge |url=http://wlh-static.law.stanford.edu/papers/GonzalesI-Chavez97.pdf}}
• First Guatemalan American female (federal judge): Lourdes Baird in 1992{{Cite book |last=Martin |first=Mart |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GpRXDwAAQBAJ&dq=first+jewish+chief+justice+michigan&pg=PT192 |title=The Almanac Of Women And Minorities In American Politics 2002 |date=2018-04-24 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-97648-3 |language=en}}
• First Asian American female (federal judge):{{Cite web |date=2009 |title=National Asian Pacific American Bar Association: Celebrating Our Progress in the Federal Judiciary-A Report on the 15-Year Anniversary of the NAPABA Judiciary Committee |url=https://gapabajudiciary.weebly.com/uploads/9/2/0/1/9201620/2009_napaba_judiciary_committee_report.pdf |website=NAPABA}} Marilyn Go in 1993
• First openly lesbian African American (federal judge): Deborah Batts (1972) in 1994{{Cite book |last=Herrick |first=Rebekah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bjg1CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT164 |title=Minorities and Representation in American Politics |date=2016-01-29 |publisher=CQ Press |isbn=9781483386850 |language=en}}
• First Cuban American female (federal judge): Cecilia Altonaga (1983) in 2003{{Cite book |last=Rights |first=United States Congress Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Property |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=02WtB1yDpNkC |title=Judicial nominations, filibusters, and the Constitution: when a majority is denied its right to consent : hearing before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Property Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Eighth Congress, first session, May 6, 2003 |date=January 2003 |publisher=U.S. G.P.O. |isbn=9780160713897 |language=en}}
• First Chinese American female (federal judge): Dolly M. Gee (1984) in 2010{{Cite book |last=Congress |first=United States |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LV-ZwhmmSk0C |title=Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress |date=2009 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |language=en}}
• First Korean American female (federal judge): Lucy H. Koh (1993) in 2010{{Cite news |date=2010-07-01 |title=June 8: Judge Lucy H. Koh becomes the first Korean American confirmed as U.S. District Court Judge |url=http://nwasianweekly.com/2010/07/june-8-judge-lucy-h-koh-becomes-the-first-korean-american-confirmed-as-u-s-district-court-judge/ |access-date=2018-01-17 |work=Northwest Asian Weekly |language=en-US}}
• First South Asian female (federal judge): Cathy Bissoon (1993) in 2011{{Cite web |title=Cathy Bissoon {{!}} Western District of Pennsylvania {{!}} United States District Court |url=http://www.pawd.uscourts.gov/cathy-bissoon |access-date=2018-01-08 |website=www.pawd.uscourts.gov |language=en}}
• First Filipino American female (federal judge): Lorna G. Schofield (1981) in 2012{{Cite web |last=Shepherd |first=David Lat, Elie Mystal, Staci Zaretsky, Kashmir Hill, Marin, Mark Herrmann, Jay |title=Above the Law |url=https://abovethelaw.com/tag/lorna-g-schofield/ |access-date=2018-01-08 |website=Above the Law |language=en-US}}
• First Afro-Caribbean-born (female):{{Cite web |date=2012-02-29 |title=Antigua Native Confirmed as United States Federal Judge in Brooklyn |url=https://www.caribjournal.com/2012/02/29/antigua-native-confirmed-as-united-states-federal-judge-in-brooklyn/ |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=Caribbean Journal |language=en}} Margo Kitsy Brodie in 2012
• First openly lesbian Asian American (federal judge): Pamela K. Chen (1986) in 2013{{Cite news |last=Stern |first=Mark Joseph |date=2014-06-17 |title=Obama's Most Enduring Gay Rights Achievement |url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/06/17/openly_gay_federal_judges_are_obama_s_most_enduring_gay_rights_achievement.html |access-date=2018-01-15 |work=Slate |language=en-US |issn=1091-2339}}
• First openly lesbian Latino American (federal judge): Nitza Quiñones Alejandro (1975) in 2013{{Cite news |date=2013-06-13 |title=First Out Lesbian Latina Confirmed to Federal Judgeship |url=https://www.advocate.com/society/law/2013/06/13/first-out-lesbian-latina-confirmed-federal-judgeship |access-date=2018-01-08 |language=en}}
• First Native American (Hopi) female (federal judge): Diane Humetewa (1993) in 2014{{Cite news |title=Diversity |url=http://www.azbar.org/aboutus/mission-vision-andcorevalues/diversity/arizonatrailblazers/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010000735/http://www.azbar.org/aboutus/mission-vision-andcorevalues/diversity/arizonatrailblazers/ |archive-date=2016-10-10 |access-date=2018-01-08 |work=State Bar of Arizona |language=en}}
• First Indian American (female) federal judge: Alka Sagar in 2014{{Cite web |title=Alka Sagar and Douglas F. McCormick Selected as United States Magistrate Judges for Central District of California {{!}} Central District of California {{!}} United States District Court |url=https://www.cacd.uscourts.gov/news/alka-sagar-and-douglas-f-mccormick-selected-united-states-magistrate-judges-central-district |access-date=2025-02-04 |website=www.cacd.uscourts.gov}}
• First Assyrian American (female) (federal judge): Hala Y. Jarbou{{Cite web |last=Burke |first=Melissa Nann |title=Senate confirms Oakland County judge, first Chaldean, to federal bench |url=https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2020/09/10/senate-confirms-oakland-county-judge-first-chaldean-federal-bench/5768576002/ |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=The Detroit News |language=en-US}} in 2020
• First Greek American female (federal judge): Eleni M. Roumel in 2020{{Cite web |date=2020-02-26 |title=First Greek-American Woman Appointed Federal Judge |url=https://greekreporter.com/2020/02/26/first-greek-american-woman-appointed-federal-judge/ |access-date=2022-05-05 |website=GreekReporter.com |language=en-US}}
• First Navajo Nation (female) (federal judge): Sunshine Sykes in 2022{{Cite web |date=2023-11-27 |title=Native Judges Belong on the Federal Bench |url=https://news.yahoo.com/native-judges-belong-federal-bench-194125659.html |access-date=2023-11-29 |website=Yahoo News |language=en-US}}
• First Muslim American female and Bangladeshi American [female] (federal judge): Nusrat Choudhury in 2023{{Cite news |title=Choudhury Confirmed as First Muslim Woman Federal Judge (1) |url=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/choudhury-confirmed-as-first-muslim-woman-federal-judge |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=news.bloomberglaw.com |language=en}}
• First Native Hawaiian female: Shanlyn A.S. Park in 2023{{Cite web |date=2023-11-30 |title=UH law school alumna appointed to federal judgeship {{!}} University of Hawaiʻi System News |url=https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2023/11/30/federal-judgeship-shanlyn-park/ |access-date=2023-12-05 |language=en-US}}

• First African American female: Bernice B. Donald (1979) in 1988{{Cite news |date=2010-12-01 |title=President Obama Nominates Judge Bernice Bouie Donald for United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2010/12/01/president-obama-nominates-judge-bernice-bouie-donald-united-states-court |access-date=2018-01-12 |work=White House |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=April 2013 |title=HON. BERNICE B. DONALD |url=https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/litigation/materials/sac2013/sac_speaker_bios/donald_bernice.authcheckdam.pdf |website=ABA Section of Litigation - Chicago Section Annual Conference |access-date=2024-02-06 |archive-date=2022-02-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220203232137/https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/litigation/materials/sac2013/sac_speaker_bios/donald_bernice.authcheckdam.pdf |url-status=dead }}

• First female: Burnita Shelton Matthews (1919) in 1949{{Cite news |last=Times |first=LINDA GREENHOUSE; Special to The New York |date=1988-04-28 |title=Burnita S. Matthews Dies at 93; First Woman on U.S. Trial Courts |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/28/obituaries/burnita-s-matthews-dies-at-93-first-woman-on-us-trial-courts.html |access-date=2018-01-09 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
• First Puerto Rican American female: Carmen Consuelo Cerezo (1969) in 1980{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ByS9UqIswqsC&pg=PA1942 |title=Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Jimmy Carter, 1980-1981, Book 2: May 24 to September 26, 1980 |publisher=Government Printing Office |language=en}}
• First Asian American female: Susan Oki Mollway (1981) in 1988{{Cite book |last=Danico |first=Mary Yu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9J6kBQAAQBAJ |title=Asian American Society: An Encyclopedia |date=2014-08-19 |publisher=SAGE Publications |isbn=9781483365602 |language=en}}

• First African American female (chief magistrate): Joyce London Alexander (1972) in 1979{{Cite news |title=Judge Alexander Ford to retire |url=http://www.thetuskegeenews.com/news/judge-alexander-ford-to-retire/article_f451f58b-a540-52fd-ad60-fd967c79aff6.html |access-date=2018-01-12 |work=The Tuskegee News |language=en}}

• First female: Florence E. Allen (1914) in 1934
• First African American female: Amalya Lyle Kearse (c. 1960s) in 1979{{Cite web |title=The Honorable Amalya L. Kearse |url=https://www.law.umich.edu/historyandtraditions/students/Pages/ProfilePage.aspx?SID=17683&Year=1962 |access-date=2018-01-17 |website=www.law.umich.edu |language=en-US}}
• First Hispanic American female: Kim McLane Wardlaw (1979) in 1998{{Cite news |date=2009-05-16 |title=Two California Latino judges emerge as candidates for Supreme Court |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2009/05/16/two-california-latino-judges-emerge-as-candidates-for-supreme-court/ |access-date=2018-01-17 |work=The Mercury News |language=en-US}}
• First openly lesbian African American (Seventh Circuit): Staci Michelle Yandle (1987) in 2014{{Cite news |date=June 17, 2014 |title=First black, openly gay man confirmed as U.S. federal judge |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-florida-judge/first-black-openly-gay-man-confirmed-as-u-s-federal-judge-idUSKBN0ES2X220140617 |access-date=2018-01-17 |work=Reuters}}
• First Vietnamese American and Asian-Pacific female: Jacqueline Nguyen (1991) in 2012{{Cite news |date=2016-12-20 |title=Despite Little Experience, New LA Judge Ready for Bench |url=https://www.courthousenews.com/despite-little-experience-new-la-judge-ready-for-bench/ |access-date=2018-02-07 |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |title=Jacqueline Nguyen confirmed for 9th Circuit court |url=https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Jacqueline-Nguyen-confirmed-for-9th-Circuit-court-3541241.php |access-date=2018-02-15 |work=SFGate}}{{Cite news |title=1st Vietnamese-Am. female federal judge confirmed |url=http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-1st-vietnamese-am-female-federal-judge-confirmed-2009dec01-story.html |access-date=2018-02-15 |work=sandiegouniontribune.com |language=en-US |agency=Associated Press}}
• First South Asian female (federal court of appeals): Neomi Rao in 2019{{Cite book |last=Mollway |first=Susan Oki |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IVg-EAAAQBAJ&dq=neomi+rao+first+law+clerk&pg=PT122 |title=The First Fifteen: How Asian American Women Became Federal Judges |date=2021-09-30 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-1-9788-2452-2 |language=en}}
• First African American (female) (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit): Tiffany P. Cunningham in 2021{{Cite web |date=2021-08-01 |title='Truly Historic': Tiffany P. Cunningham Is Confirmed as First Black Judge for the Federal Circuit |url=https://atlantablackstar.com/2021/08/01/truly-historic-tiffany-p-cunningham-confirmed-as-first-black-federal-circuit-judge/ |access-date=2022-01-24 |website=Atlanta Black Star |language=en-US}}
• First former federal (female) public defender to serve as a U.S. Circuit Judge: Candace Jackson-Akiwumi in 2021{{Cite web |date=2021-03-30 |title=President Biden picks ex-federal public defender Candace Jackson-Akiwumi for Chicago federal appeals court seat |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/2021/3/30/22357714/president-biden-picks-candace-jackson-akiwumi-chicago-federal-appeals-court-seventh-circuit |access-date=2022-04-12 |website=Chicago Sun-Times |language=en}}
• First federal (female) public defender to serve as a U.S. Circuit Judge: Eunice C. Lee in 2021{{Cite web |title=Meet Eunice Lee, First Federal Defender Tapped to Serve as 2nd Circuit Judge |url=https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2021/05/12/meet-eunice-lee-first-federal-defender-tapped-to-serve-as-2nd-circuit-judge/ |access-date=2022-04-12 |website=New York Law Journal |language=en}}
• First openly lesbian: Beth Robinson (1989) in 2021{{Cite news |date=2011-11-29 |title=Beth Robinson, Vermont's First Openly Gay Supreme Court Justice, Sworn In (VIDEO) |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/29/beth-robinson-vermont-supreme-court-justice-_n_1118772.html |access-date=2018-02-08 |work=Huffington Post |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2021-11-01 |title=First Out Lesbian Judge Confirmed to Federal Appeals Court |url=https://www.advocate.com/news/2021/11/01/first-out-lesbian-judge-confirmed-federal-appeals-court |access-date=2021-11-02 |website=www.advocate.com |language=en}}
• First African American female (United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit): Dana Douglas in 2022{{Cite web |date=2022-06-15 |title=New Orleans judge tapped by President Biden for Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals |url=https://www.wdsu.com/article/new-orleans-dana-douglas-fifth-district-court-appeals-nomination/40298774 |access-date=2024-02-22 |website=WDSU |language=en}}
• First African American female (United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit): Arianna J. Freeman in 2022{{Cite news |title=Biden Nominee Would be First Black Woman on Third Circuit (2) |url=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/biden-to-tap-naacp-ldf-gibson-dunn-lawyers-for-judgeships |access-date=2024-02-22 |website=news.bloomberglaw.com |language=en}}
• First Asian American [female] (United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit): Cindy K. Chung in 2023{{Cite web |date=2023-02-14 |title=Cindy Chung confirmed for U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/cindy-chung-confirmed-for-us-court-of-appeals-for-the-third-circuit/vi-AA17sLDQ |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=MSN |language=en-US}}
• First Latino American female (United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit): Irma Carrillo Ramirez in 2023{{Cite web |date=2023-12-08 |title=Irma Carrillo Ramirez Makes History as First Latina Judge to 5th Circuit Court |url=https://hiplatina.com/irma-carrillo-ramirez-fifth-circuit-judge/ |access-date=2023-12-14 |website=HipLatina |language=en}}
• First African American female (United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit): Nancy Abudu in 2023{{Cite web |date=2021-12-23 |title=40 federal judges confirmed in 2021; Biden nominates 2 more |url=https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-bill-clinton-race-and-ethnicity-voting-rights-district-of-columbia-80830dd1e0687173a0d3927952ed4a8b |access-date=2024-02-22 |website=AP News |language=en}}
• First openly lesbian [and LGBT person] (United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit): Nicole Berner in 2024{{Cite web |title=Lesbian lawyer Nicole Berner confirmed as federal appeals court judge |url=https://www.advocate.com/news/nicole-berner-lesbian-judge-confirmed |access-date=2024-03-20 |website=www.advocate.com |language=en}}

• First female: Genevieve R. Cline (1921) in 1928{{Cite news |title=Women as 'Way Pavers' in the Federal Judiciary |url=http://www.uscourts.gov/news/2015/02/26/women-way-pavers-federal-judiciary |access-date=2017-09-27 |work=United States Courts |language=en}}

• First female: Sandra Day O'Connor (1952) in 1981{{Cite web |title=Sandra Day O'Connor |url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/visiting/SandraDayOConnor.aspx |access-date=2018-01-17 |website=www.supremecourt.gov}}
• First Jewish female: Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1959) in 1993{{Cite web |title=Ruth Bader Ginsburg {{!}} Jewish Women's Archive |url=https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/ginsburg-ruth-bader |access-date=2018-01-17 |website=jwa.org |language=en}}
• First Hispanic American female: Sonia Sotomayor (1980) in 2009{{Cite web |title=Sonia Sotomayor |url=https://www.oyez.org/justices/sonia_sotomayor |access-date=2018-01-17 |website=Oyez |language=en-US}}
• First African American female: Ketanji Brown Jackson in 2022{{Cite web |title=Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court |url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/kbj/ |access-date=2022-04-09 |website=The White House |language=en-US}}

• Women in law
• Women in the workforce
• List of female state supreme court justices
• List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States
• Ada Kepley, 1847-1925 - first woman to graduate from a law school in the United States (1870)

{{reflist}}

• Sandra Day O'Connor, The Challenge of a Woman in Law, WOMEN IN LAW 5 (Shimon Shetreet, ed. 1998).
• Sandra Day O'Connor, The Effects of Gender in the Federal Courts: The Final Report of the Ninth Circuit Gender Bias Task Force: The Quality of Justice, 67 S. Cal. L. Rev. 745 (1994).
• Rose Elizabeth Bird, Forward, WOMEN IN THE COURTS ix (1978).
• Beverly Blair Cook, Women Judges: The End of Tokenism, WOMEN IN THE COURTS 84 (Winifred L. Hepperle & Laura Crites eds., 1978).
• Beverly Blair Cook, Moral Authority & Gender Difference: Georgia Bullock & the Los Angeles Women's Court, 77 JUDICATURE 144 (1993).
• Walter J. Walsh, Speaking Truth to Power: The Jurisprudence of Julia Cooper Mack, 40 HOW. L. J. 291, 296 (1997).
• Lynn Hecht Schafran, Gender Bias in the Courts: An Emerging Focus For Judicial Reform, 21 Ariz. St. L.J. 237 (1989).
• Resnick, Ambivalence: The Resiliency of Legal Culture in the United States, 45 Stan. L. Rev. 1525 (1993).
• Judith A. Baer, WOMEN IN AMERICAN LAW 290 (1996).
• Felice K. Shea, Women on the Bench, 12 Colum. J. Gender & L. 361, 379-380 (2003).
• Dolores K. Sloviter, Personal Reflections on Creation of the Third Circuit Task Force on Equal Treatment in the Courts, 42 Vill. L. Rev. 1347, 1352 (1997).
• Byrna Bogoch, Courtroom Disclosure and the Gendered Construction of Professional Identity, 24 L. & Soc. Inquiry 329, 334 (1999).
• Joyce S. Sterling, The Impact of Gender Bias on Judging: Survey of Attitudes Toward Women Judges, 22 COLO. LAW. 257 (Feb. 1993
• Jeffrey Toobin, Women in Black, NEW YORKER, at 48 (Oct. 30, 2000).
• Belva Ann Lockwood, "My Efforts to Become a Lawyer", Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, February 1888.
• See articles about women attorneys by Barbara Babcock, Jill Norgren, and Mary Clark
• See articles posted on the Stanford University Law School Women and Law website

• American Bar Association, Commission on Women in the Profession (2003), available at [http://www.abanet.org/women/glance.pdf Women in the Profession].
• Conference of Chief Justices, Resolution XVIII, "Task Forces on Gender Bias and Minority Concerns," (adopted Aug. 4, 1988)
• Conference of State Court Administrators, Resolution I, "Task Forces on Gender Bias and Minority Concerns," (adopted Aug 4. 1998)).
• Carrol Seron, Ph.D. et al., A Report Of The Perceptions And Experiences Of Lawyers, Judges, And Court Employees Concerning Gender, Racial And Ethnic Fairness In The Federal Courts Of The Second Circuit Of The United States, 1997 Ann. Surv. Am. L. 419, 457 (1997)

• [http://www.uiowa.edu/~prslaw/courses/gender/goodell.pdf In re Goodell], 39 Wis. 232, 245 (1875)
• Bradwell v. Illinois, 83 U.S. 130, 141 (1873) "Mrs. Myra Bradwell, residing in the State of Illinois, made application to the judges of the Supreme Court of that State for a license to practice law. She accompanied her petition with the usual certificate from an inferior court of her good character, and that on due examination she had been found to possess the requisite qualifications. Pending this application she also filed an affidavit, to the effect 'that she was born in the State of Vermont; that she was (had been) a citizen of that State; that she is now a citizen of the United States, and has been for many years past a resident of the city of Chicago, in the State of Illinois.' And with this affidavit she also filed a paper asserting that, under the foregoing facts, she was entitled to the license prayed for by virtue of the second section of the fourth article of the Constitution of the United States, and of the fourteenth article of amendment of that instrument." Bradwell v. Illinois is at 83 U.S. 130 (1872).

• J. Clay Smith, ed., Rebels in Law: Voices in History of Black Women Lawyers (University of Michigan Press, 1998)
• Jill Norgren, Belva Lockwood: The Woman Who Would be President (New York University Press, 2007).
• Jill Norgren, Equal Rights Pioneer: Belva Lockwood (for young readers)(Lerner Books, August 2008).
• See books by Virginia Drachman

{{Women in U.S. Government}}

Category:American women lawyers

Category:Legal history of the United States

Category:Women in the United States