Race and gender replaced region as top demographic factors in Supreme Court appointments

Evidence

In 1967, President Lyndon Johnson appointed Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to serve on the Court. When Marshall retired in 1991, President George Bush took into consideration the concern for black representation on the Court when he named Justice Clarence Thomas as Marshall’s replacement. In 1980, while campaigning for the presidency, Ronald Reagan pledged to appoint a woman to the Court, and he fulfilled that promise a year later by naming Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Bill Clinton also chose a woman, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as his first appointee to the Court. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 532

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Regional culture, not selection method, explains interstate differences in judge backgrounds; Religious demographics historically shaped Supreme Court seat allocation — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 523; Demographic representation is a third competing value in judicial selection — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 591 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Demographic representation is a third competing value in judicial selection #expands (0.75) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 591
• Religious demographics historically shaped Supreme Court seat allocation #expands (0.72) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 523