The Brennan Center for Justice has published an update to its examination of “State Supreme Court Diversity.” Authors Amanda Powers and Alicia Bannon report that although “this year has brought a slight increase in demographic and professional diversity across state supreme courts,” those courts in general “fail to reflect the racial, ethnic, and gender diversity of the communities they serve and the diversity of the legal profession.” California’s Supreme Court is an exception.
For example, the report says that “[i]n 18 states, no justices identify as a person of color, including in 12 states where people of color make up at least 20 percent of the population,” but five of the seven California Supreme Court justices are people of color. And while “[w]omen also remain underrepresented on state supreme courts,” California’s court is majority female and is tied with Maryland’s for having the highest percentage of women justices of color.
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