Below is a list of the names of the first woman to sit on the highest court of their respective states in the United States.
The first state with a female justice was Ohio; Florence E. Allen was named to the bench in 1923. [1]
Throughout history, men have outnumbered women on the highest court in each state. Instances of female-majority courts remain an uncommon occurrence, but in recent decades they have appeared more frequently. Currently, the United States Supreme Court has the highest percentage of women justices it has ever had, yet there has still never been a majority.
State | Year |
---|---|
All-Woman Supreme Court (special sitting of the Supreme Court of Texas for a single case) | 1925 |
Arkansas | 2015–present [18] |
California | 2011–2017; 2022–present |
District of Columbia | 2006–2013, 2017–present |
Idaho | 2023–present [19] |
Illinois | 2023–present [20] |
Maryland | 2013–present |
Michigan | 1997, 2009, 2021–present |
Minnesota | 1991, 2016–present |
Missouri | 2023–present [21] |
Nevada | 2019–present [22] |
New Jersey | 2011 |
New Mexico | 2015–present |
New York | 2003–2008, 2013–2017 |
North Carolina | 2011 |
Ohio | 2002, 2005, 2011, 2018–2022 |
Oregon | 2017–present |
Rhode Island | 2021–present |
Tennessee | 2009–2021 |
Utah | 2021-present |
Vermont | 2017–present |
Washington | 2013–present |
Wisconsin | 2003–2004, 2007–present |
West Virginia | 2017–present |
Wyoming | 2018–present |
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts:
The Supreme Court of the State of North Carolina is the state of North Carolina's highest appellate court. Until the creation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in the 1960s, it was the state's only appellate court. The Supreme Court consists of six associate justices and one chief justice, although the number of justices has varied. The primary function of the Supreme Court is to decide questions of law that have arisen in the lower courts and before state administrative agencies.
The Indiana Supreme Court, established by Article 7 of the Indiana Constitution, is the highest judicial authority in the state of Indiana. Located in Indianapolis, the Court's chambers are in the north wing of the Indiana Statehouse.
The Connecticut Supreme Court, formerly known as the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, is the highest court in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The seven justices sit in Hartford, across the street from the Connecticut State Capitol. The court generally holds eight sessions of two to three weeks per year, with one session each September through November and January through May. Justices are appointed by the governor and then approved by the Connecticut General Assembly.
As established and defined by the Montana Constitution, the government of the State of Montana is composed of three branches, the Executive, Judicial, and Legislative. The powers of initiative and referendum are reserved for the citizens of Montana.
The Alexander Blewett III School of Law is a law school at the University of Montana in Missoula. It was established in 1911 and remains Montana's only law school.
The University of Mississippi School of Law, also known as Ole Miss Law, is an ABA-accredited law school located on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. The School of Law offers the only dedicated aerospace law curriculum in the United States from an ABA-accredited school. The University of Mississippi School of Law is also the only school in the United States, and one of only a handful in the world, to offer a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Air and Space Law.
This is a short timeline of women lawyers. Much more information on the subject can be found at: List of first women lawyers and judges by nationality.
Susan Larson Christensen is an American lawyer who has served as an associate justice of the Iowa Supreme Court since 2018 and as the chief justice since 2020.
Women have been underrepresented in all three branches of Texas state government. Texas has had only two female governors over 175 years since statehood, and many prominent executive positions - such as Lieutenant Governor - have yet to be filled by women. While the percentage of women in the Texas Legislature has increased over the past few legislative sessions, as of December 2021, the percentage of female legislators in both the Texas House and the Texas Senate still fell far short of 50.3% - the percentage of women in the overall Texas population. The state's highest courts – the Supreme Court of Texas and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals – have seen similarly low numbers of female justices throughout their history.
As of 2022, Montana ranked 22nd out of 50 American states in terms of percentage of state legislators who are women. Within the Montana State Legislature, 32.7 percent of all members were women in 2022. From statehood in 1889 to 2021, the state of Montana had only one female governor, Judy Martz. Although the first woman to be elected to the United States Congress was from Montana in 1916, the state had not elected another woman to Congress as of 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)