Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Appointments to the federal bench have been considerably more diverse during the first 14-months of President Barack Obama’s term when compared to the same time period for President George W. Bush. Whereas Bush’s nominations to districts courts and courts of appeal were dominated by white males (68% of the total), only 30% of Obama’s nominees have been white males. According to U.S. Census figures, approximately 33% of the U.S. population are white males.
Obama’s second largest category has been white women (27%), followed by African Americans (25%), Asian Americans (11%) and Hispanics (4%).
Although the numbers are based on a little more than one year in office, they could indicate a longer trend for Obama. Bush’s preference for Caucasian men to federal judgeships was consistent throughout his eight years in office, with 64% of all his circuit appointees and 67% of his district appointees being white males.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Judicial Nominations in the First Fourteen Months of the Obama and Bush Administrations (by Russell Wheeler, Brookings Institution) (pdf)
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