Obama's Strong Start on Judicial Diversity

As we all know, Barack Obama recently appointed Sonia Sotomayor as the first Latina to the U.S. Supreme Court. But Supreme Court nominations are fraught with political implications and this one pick doesn't prove anything about Obama's commitment to judicial diversity. His first few nominations to circuit and appeals courts, however, suggest that his picks will indeed build a more diverse federal bench.

So far, Obama has nominated 16 judges to lifetime seats - and only six of them have been white men. WaPo breaks down the (very early) encouraging numbers. Obama, however, is behind the pace of his predecessor - George W. Bush had nominated 48 people by this time in his presidency, and his record on diversity is unimpressive to say the least. A recent analysis by professors at American University and Oregon State University found that Bush was entirely focused on ideology, and let diversity take a back seat. His appointments were 78 percent men and 82 percent white.

Despite Bush's best efforts, the federal bench is slowly becoming more diverse, and Obama can accelerate this move. One group, however, is still almost entirely left off the bench. Only one of 1,300 federal judges is believed to be openly gay, and LGBT judges should be included in our move toward a more diverse federal judiciary.

Let's hope Obama picks up his pace on judicial nominations, and that he expands on this encouraging start on diversity.

Hat tip to the American Constitution Society, which has video of a great recent panel on where the value of diversity on the bench.