Gender and Presidential Judicial Selection

Abstract

This study traces the gender-based patterns of judicial selection for four presidents from 1976 to 2000. The differences among the presidents are discussed in terms of the number of women they appointed, their selection process, and eligible pool, partisan and ideological considerations. Career and educational background characteristics of women judges appointed by Carter, Reagan, G.H.W. Bush, and Clinton are compared and clear differences emerge. The study concludes that women's paths to the federal bench have not changed much in the last 25 years and that women appointees appear to have “climbed” a judicial ladder that men have not.