A Bench That Looks Like America? Representation of African Americans and Latinos on the Federal Courts

We explore whether political and socioeconomic determinants identified in research on state and local representation help to explain the political incorporation of African Americans and Latinos to appointive positions in national politics, namely, federal judgeships. We find somewhat different results for the two minority groups. Whereas the recruitment of African Americans is attributed primarily to political and demographic factors, Latino representation is most strongly influenced by socioeconomic standing. Using data from the U.S. census of 1970, 1980, and 1990, and state and national political directories, socioeconomic and political profiles are constructed for 90 of the 94 U.S. judicial districts from which federal judges are selected (the four territorial districts are excluded). The watershed of bench diversification was the Carter years; Latino representation continued to increase moderately during the ensuing Republican administrations while African-American representation declined. Although diversification in general had increased, this has occurred primarily on the district bench rather than the more prestigious courts of appeals.