Confirmation of Female District Court Judge Highlights Progress on Diversity of Judicial Nominees

On Monday, the Senate confirmed Stephanie Rose, nominated to a district court seat in Iowa. As the Huffington Post noted, with Judge Rose’s confirmation, as many female federal judges have been confirmed in the Obama Administration as were confirmed in President George Bush’s 8 years in office. As a result, the percentage of female federal judges has increased between 2008 (PDF) and 2012. 

Obama nominees have been more diverse not only in terms of gender, but also race, ethnicity and other important kinds of diversity, than nominees in any prior presidential administration. As Marcia Greenberger stated in the article, “At this time, it's beyond dispute that having a diverse set of judges improves the quality of justice for everybody.” But there is clearly more progress to be made. As Marcia also observed to the Huffington Post, “There's been a very distressing slowdown in the consideration of nominations to courts, so meeting this record and making this record is all the more commendable. It also points out how important it is for the Senate to fill the vacancies. . . .There are a number of uncontroversial nominations that include women that need to be considered by the Senate.”

The Senate could – and should – quickly and easily address the pending nominations in September, so people across the nation can benefit from a fully functioning court system in which the judiciary more closely resembles our country’s diverse population.