Making History: President Obama’s Female Judicial Nominees

President Obama has the best record of any President in appointing women to the federal judiciary.

His historic firsts include:

President Obama is the first President to appoint two women to the Supreme Court. Because of those appointments, three women sit on

the Supreme Court for the first time in its history.

Forty-two percent of his appointees have been women – a rate almost double that of President George W. Bush (22%) and almost fifty

percent greater than that of President Clinton (29%).

President Obama already has appointed more female federal judges that President George W. Bush did in his entire presidency (80 to 71).

Nine District Courts now have their first female judges:

o (Nancy Freudenthal – District of Wyoming.; Sharon Gleason – District of Alaska; Kimberly Mueller – Eastern District of California;

Rosanna Peterson – Eastern District of Washington; Catherine Eagles – Middle District of North Carolina; Christina Reiss – District of

Vermont; Stephanie Rose – Southern District of Iowa; Nancy Torresen – District of Maine; and Shelly Dick – Middle District of

Louisiana). Four pending nominees would also be the first female judges in their respective District Courts (Pamela L. Reeves –

Eastern District of Tennessee; Elizabeth A. Wolford – Western District of New York; Landya McCafferty – District of New

Hampshire; and Susan Watters – District of New Montana.)

Six states now have their first female Circuit Court judges:

o (Susan Carney – Ninth Circuit from CT; Morgan Christen – Ninth Circuit from AK; Barbara Keenan – Fourth Circuit from VA; Jane

Kelly – Eighth Circuit from IA; Stephanie Thacker – Fourth Circuit from WV; and O. Rogeriee Thompson – First Circuit from RI).

One pending nominee would also be the first female Circuit Court judge in her state (Carolyn McHugh – Tenth Circuit from UT).

President Obama already has appointed more minority women judges (33) than President George W. Bush (22) or President Clinton (23).

Seven states now have their first African American female Article III* judge:

o (Arenda Wright Allen – VA; Irene Berger – WV; Denise Jefferson Casper – MA; Nannette Jolivette-Brown – LA; Benita Pearson –

OH; Tanya Pratt – IN; and O. Rogeriee Thompson – RI). One pending nominee would be the first African American female Article III

judge in her state (Debra M. Brown – MS).

Three states have their first Hispanic female Article III judge:

o (Cathy Bissoon – PA; Gloria Navarro – NV; and Esther Salas – NJ).

President Obama has quintupled the number of Asian Pacific American female Article III judges in history (from 2 to 10).

o This includes the first South Asian American female Article III judge (Cathy Bissoon – Western District of Pennsylvania); the first

Chinese American female Article III judge (Dolly Gee – Central District of California), the first Korean American female Article III

judge (Lucy Koh – Northern District of California); the first Vietnamese American Article III judge (Jacqueline Nguyen – Central

District of California, now Ninth Circuit); the first Filipino American Article III judge (Lorna Schofield – Southern District of New

York). * Article III judges have lifetime tenure and include both District and Circuit Court judges.

Making History: President Obama’s Female Judicial Nominees

Circuit Court Appointments—Historic Firsts

Susan Carney

Second Circuit

First female circuit judge

from Connecticut.

Morgan Christen

Ninth Circuit

First female circuit judge

from Alaska.

Bernice Donald

Sixth Circuit

First African American

circuit judge from

Tennessee; First African

American female judge in

the Sixth Circuit

(Michigan, Ohio,

Kentucky, and Tennessee).

Barbara Keenan

Fourth Circuit

First female circuit judge

from Virginia.

Jane Kelly

Eighth Circuit

First female circuit judge

from Iowa.

Mary Murguia

Ninth Circuit

First Hispanic female

circuit judge from

Arizona.

Jacqueline Nguyen

Ninth Circuit

First Asian Pacific

American female circuit

judge nationwide.

Stephanie Thacker

Fourth Circuit

First female circuit judge

from West Virginia.

O. Rogeriee Thompson

First Circuit

First female circuit judge

from Rhode Island; first

African American female

Article III judge in the First

Circuit.

Carolyn McHugh

Tenth Circuit Nominee

If confirmed, would be first

female circuit judge from

Utah.

Making History: President Obama’s Female Judicial Nominees

District Court Appointments—Historic Firsts

Arenda Wright Allen

E.D. Va.

First African American

female Article III judge in

Virginia.

Irene Berger

S.D. W. Va.

First African American

Article III judge in West

Virginia.

Cathy Bissoon

W.D. Pa.

First South Asian American

female Article III judge; first

Asian Pacific American

Article III judge in

Pennsylvania; first Hispanic

district judge in the Western

District of Pennsylvania; first

Hispanic female Article III

judge in Pennsylvania.

Margo Brodie

E.D.N.Y.

First Afro-Caribbean-born

district judge in America.

Denise Casper

D. Mass.

First African American

female Article III judge in

Massachusetts.

Shelly Deckert Dick

M.D. La.

First female district judge in

the Middle District of

Louisiana.

Miranda Du

D. Nev.

First Asian Pacific American

Article III judge in Nevada.

Catherine Eagles

M.D.N.C.

First female Article III judge

in the Middle District of

North Carolina.

Nancy Freudenthal

D. Wyo.

First female Article III judge

in Wyoming.

Dolly Gee

C.D. Cal.

First Chinese American

female Article III judge

nationwide.

Making History: President Obama’s Female Judicial Nominees

District Court Appointments—Historic Firsts (continued…)

Sharon Gleason

D. Alaska

First female Article III judge

in Alaska.

Nannette Jolivette-Brown

E.D. La.

First African American

female Article III judge in

Louisiana.

Lucy Koh

N.D. Cal.

First Korean American

district judge nationwide;

first Korean American female

Article III judge; first Asian

Pacific American district

judge in the Northern District

of California.

Ramona Manglona

D. N. Mar. I.

First Asian Pacific American

female district judge in the

District of the Northern

Mariana Islands; first

indigenous person to serve as

district judge in the

Commonwealth of the

Northern Marianas Islands.

Kimberley Mueller

E.D. Cal.

First female district judge in

the Eastern District of

California.

Gloria Navarro

D. Nev.

First Hispanic female Article

III judge in Nevada.

Jacqueline Nguyen

C.D. Cal.

First Vietnamese American

Article III judge nationwide;

first Asian Pacific American

female district judge in the

Central District of California.

Benita Pearson

N.D. Ohio

First African American

female Article III judge in

Ohio.

Rosanna Peterson E.D.

Wash.

First female Article III judge

in the Eastern District of

Washington.

Tanya Pratt

S.D. Ind.

First African American

female Article III judge in

Indiana.

Making History: President Obama’s Female Judicial Nominees

District Court Appointments—Historic Firsts (continued…)

Christina Reiss

D. Vt.

First female Article III judge

in Vermont.

Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers

N.D. Cal.

First Hispanic female district

judge in the Northern District

of California.

Stephanie Rose

S.D. Iowa

First female district judge in

the Southern District of Iowa.

Esther Salas

D. N.J.

First Hispanic female Article

III judge in Third Circuit

(New Jersey, Pennsylvania,

and Delaware).

Lorna Schofield

S.D.N.Y.

First Filipino American

Article III judge nationwide;

first Asian Pacific American

female district judge in the

Southern District of New

York.

Debra M. Brown

N.D. Miss. Nominee

If confirmed, would be first

female African American

Article III judge in

Mississippi.

Landya McCafferty D.N.H.

If confirmed, would be first

female judge in the District of

New Hampshire.

Pamela L. Reeves

E.D. Tenn. Nominee

If confirmed, would be first

female judge in the Eastern

District of Tennessee.

Susan Watters D. Mont.

If confirmed, would be first

female judge in the District of

Montana.

Elizabeth A. Wolford

W.D.N.Y. Nominee

If confirmed, would be first

female judge in the Western

District of New York.

Making History: President Obama’s Female Judicial Nominees

Making History: President Obama’s Female Judicial Nominees