An Historical and Empirical Exploration of Judicial Diversity in Federal Courts.

Descriptive representation is an important issue within democratic institutions. Although constitutionally designed to be the least popularly accountable branch of government, issues of representation can be just as important for the nation's federal judiciary. In this paper, we examine the descriptive representation of jurists on the federal appellate courts. More specifically, we analyze the background characteristics of judges on the US Courts of Appeals from 1801-2012 and of justices on the US Supreme Court for its entire history commencing in 1789. In terms of background characteristics, we look to racial and gender diversity. However, we also look beyond these more traditional representative characteristics, as we also examine ethnic, religious, and professional backgrounds of federal judges. We find that the federal courts have been dominated by judges whose backgrounds reflect immigration patters in the country, as early on most judges were White males of northern European descent with Protestant affiliations. However, as immigration patterns changed to more southern European trends as well as from Latin America and Asia, eventually judges reflected these broader changes in society. As well, gender and racial diversity has increased in the past few generations. Moreover, the professional backgrounds of federal judges include many with prosecutorial or other government experience, whether appointed or elected. These findings show that judges are involved and experienced in politics prior to their ascent to the federal courts, which along with their background characteristics may influence their decision making on the bench. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]