State Supreme Court Representation Gaps

38 states (including all but one Southern state) have supreme courts that lack the racial diversity of the state’s population.

State supreme court representation gaps, May 2022

Difference between state supreme court justice racial diversity and population diversity

Source: Brennan Center for Justice. Note: This map represents the difference between the percentage of non-white justices on state supreme courts (as of 2022) compared to the percentage of the non-white population in the state (based on 2020 census data)."Non-white" includes individuals who are Black, Asian, Latino, Native American, or multiracial. White is limited to non-Hispanic/Latino white individuals.

State supreme courts are highly influential institutions, making final decisions that impact the day-to-day lives of Americans on a wide array of critical issues including mask and vaccine mandates, gerrymandering, and challenges to state election certification efforts. As such, they have been important during the pandemic and are a critical part of governmental checks and balances. A diverse judiciary promotes richer jurisprudence, benefiting from judges who have seen problems from different angles.^1,2 Many state supreme courts lack the diversity of the populations they represent.

Of the 12 Southern states, 11 have supreme courts that are less racially diverse than their state’s population. There are 0 Black justices in 4 Southern states where Black residents make up at least 10% of the population (AL, AR, FL, and TN). Nationwide, men hold 59% of state supreme court seats and in 9 states, there is only one woman on the supreme court bench.³ Of the 340 state supreme court justices, only 10 openly identify as gay or lesbian (none in the South).⁴

1. “Racial Diversity and Judicial Influence on Appellate Courts”. Kastellec. American Journal of Political Science. January, 2013. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23496550 

2. “What Research Shows About the Importance of Supreme Court Diversity”. Bannon, Keith. Brennan Center For Justice. February, 2022. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/what-research-shows-about-importance-supreme-court-diversity 

3. “State Supreme Court Diversity – May 2022 Update”. Powers, Bannon. Brennan Center for Justice. May, 2022. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/state-supreme-court-diversity-may-2022-update#:~:text=In%20July%202019%2C%20the%20Brennan,than%2060%20years%20of%20data

4. “The Stunning Lack of Diversity on the State Court Bench”. Lambda Legal. https://www.lambdalegal.org/node/42701