Judges Disproportionately White, Male

The demographics of U.S. state courts do not reflect the makeup of the population, with far fewer women and people of color, according to a new study. Though women represent about half the U.S. population, and about the same number of law students, fewer than one-third of state judges are women. “Not a single study has as many women judges as it does men,” according to the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, which analyzed a database of more than 10,000 judicial biographies for the study. Similarly, the ACS study found that, though people of color account for four in 10 Americans, they make up only about two of every 10 state judges.