Two Female Judges Confirmed, More Are Waiting

Yesterday the Senate confirmed two women to federal district courts -- Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to the Northern District of California and Sharon Gleason to the District of Alaska. Judge Rogers will be the first Latina judge in her district, and Judge Gleason will be the first female federal judge in Alaska ever. So their confirmations are events worthy of celebration. At this point, 47% of the judges confirmed in the Obama Administration have been women and women's representation has increased on both circuit and district courts around the country. 

Without detracting from the celebration, however, we note that there are 10 women who have been approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee and are waiting for a vote by the full Senate, out of 20 female nominees currently pending in the Senate. Among the women who are waiting is Caitlin Halligan, an exceptionally well-qualified nominee to one of the three empty seats on the D.C. Circuit who has, ludicrously enough, been waiting for a vote since March. People often ask us how it is that women, who have made up over 40 percent of law school classes for nearly twenty years, only comprise 30 percent of the federal judiciary. Well, when the Senate doesn't confirm highly-qualified female nominees for month after month, it certainly doesn't help.