Shirley Ann Mount Hufstedler (August 24, 1925 – March 30, 2016) was an American attorney and judge who served as the first United States secretary of education from 1979 to 1981. She previously served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1968 to 1979. At the time of her presidential cabinet appointment under President Jimmy Carter, she was the highest ranking-woman in the federal judiciary of the United States. Early life and education Hufstedler was born Shirley Ann Mount on August 24, 1925, in Denver, Colorado. Her mother's side of the family emigrated to the United States from Germany and were pioneers in Missouri. Hufstedler's father worked in construction and during the Great Depression the family had to move frequently so he could find work. As a result, she frequently changed schools and towns starting in the second grade. As a child, she lived in New Mexico, Montana, California, and Wyoming. A friend of her father's and famous war correspondent, Ernie Pyle, became a close friend and mentor of Hufstedler. Hufstedler received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 1945 from the University of New Mexico and a Bachelor of Laws in 1949 from Stanford Law School. Career Initial attempts to begin her career after graduating proved to be difficult. Her graduating class from law school included only two women, as three of them dropped out, and although she graduated at the top of her class, she was still a woman in a male dominated profession and she struggled to find employment opportunities. She started writing briefs for other lawyers and picked up other similar tasks. Ultimately, she opened up her own office in Los Angeles in 1951. From there, she managed to make her way to the Attorney General's Office. She served as Special Legal Consultant to the Attorney General of California in the complex Colorado River litigation before the United States Supreme Court from 1960 to 1961. California Superior Court Judge In 1961, she was appointed Judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, by Governor Pat Brown. a position to which she was elected in 1962 as a Democrat. At the time she was appointed to the Los Angeles County Superior Court, she was the only female in a group of 119 men. Judge Shirley M. Hufstedler is widely credited with introducing tentative rulings to American