Congressional Interest in Demographic and Other Background Characteristics of Judges

The demographic characteristics and professional experiences of U.S. circuit and district court judges are of ongoing interest to Congress. Consequently, unless otherwise noted, the statistics reported below do not reflect all of the circuit or district court appointments made by a President during his tenure in office. Additionally, the statistics presented below do not include those individuals whose nominations to circuit or district court judgeships were unsuccessful or whose nominations are currently pending in the Senate. CRS noted previously that, during the Obama presidency, nontraditional judges for the first time in judicial history comprised over 50% of active federal appellate court judges (this occurred with the appointment of Pamela Harris of Maryland to the Fourth Circuit). As of June 1, 2017, this remains the case among active U.S. circuit court judges—specifically, 87, or 54.4%, of 160 active U.S. circuit court judges are white women, non-white women, or non-white men. Notably, as shown by Figure 6 , President Obama was the first President for whom nontraditional nominees (i.e., white women, non-white women, and non-white men) comprised a majority of all those he appointed as federal appellate court judges. As shown by Figure 8 , most active U.S. circuit court judges were either serving as U.S. district court judges or working as attorneys in private practice immediately prior to being appointed to the bench (each accounting for 26.9% of active judges). As of June 1, 2017, there were active female judges serving on 80, or 88%, of the nation's 91 U.S. district courts, with the greatest number of women serving as judges for the Southern District of New York (10, or 38%, of 26 active judges) and the Eastern District of New York (8, or 73%, of 11 active judges), and a single woman serving as an active judge on 37 U.S. district courts (representing 29% of the 129 active judges serving on the 37 district courts). Nontraditional Judges

As discussed above, "nontraditional" judges are those belonging to certain demographic groups from which individuals, historically, were not often, if ever, selected for federal judgeships. As with circuit court appointees during the Obama presidency, nontraditional judges for the first time in judicial history comprised over 50% of active federal district court judges. As of June 1, 2017, this remains the case among active U.S. district court judges—specifically, 289, or 51%, of 570 active U.S. district court judges are white women, non-white women, or non-white men. Notably, as shown by the figure (and as with his circuit court appointees), President Obama was the first President for whom nontraditional nominees (i.e., white women, non-white women, and non-white men) comprised a majority of all those he appointed as U.S. district court judges. As shown by Figure 16 , a plurality of U.S. district court judges, immediately prior to appointment, were working as attorneys in private practice (35.4% of all active judges).
This report addresses ongoing congressional interest in the demographic characteristics and professional experiences of those individuals nominated and appointed to fill lower federal court judgeships. It focuses on demographic and other background characteristics of active U.S. circuit and district court judges who are currently serving on the federal bench.
Unless otherwise noted, the statistics provided in the report do not reflect all of a particular President's circuit or district court appointments during his time in office—but only active judges appointed by that President. A judge in "active service" works full-time and is appointed to one of the circuit or district court judgeships authorized by Congress. He or she has not taken senior status, retired, or resigned from office. A judge who has assumed senior status continues, on a part-time basis, to perform the duties of his or her office (which can include hearing cases)—but the demographic and background characteristics of these judges are not included in the statistics presented in the main text of the report.
As discussed below, "nontraditional" judges are those judges who belong to demographic groups from which, historically, individuals were not often selected, if at all, for federal judgeships. Specifically, for the purposes of this report, white women, non-white men, and non-white women are considered nontraditional judges.
Some of the report's findings include the following:
During the Obama presidency, nontraditional judges for the first time in judicial history comprised over 50% of active U.S. circuit court judges. As of June 1, 2017, this remains the case among active circuit court judges—specifically, 54.4% of active judges are white women, non-white women, or non-white men. President Obama was the first President for whom nontraditional nominees comprised a majority (69.0%) of all those he appointed as circuit court judges. A plurality of active U.S. circuit court judges (26.3%) are 70 years or older. Immediately prior to being appointed as U.S. circuit court judges, a plurality of circuit court judges were either serving as U.S. district court judges (26.9%) or as attorneys in private practice (also 26.9%). During the Obama presidency, nontraditional judges for the first time in judicial history comprised over 50% of active U.S. district court judges. As of June 1, 2017, this remains the case among active district court judges—specifically, 51.0% of active judges are white women, non-white women, or non-white men. President Obama was the first President for whom nontraditional nominees comprised a majority (62.0%) of all those he appointed as district court judges. A plurality of active U.S. district court judges (29.5%) are 60 to 64 years of age. Immediately prior to being appointed as U.S. district court judges, a plurality of district court judges were working as attorneys in private practice (35.4%) followed by those serving as state or local judges (30.5%).