What the data says on federal court diversity
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On April 7, the US Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. She will take her seat when Justice Stephen Breyer retires at the end of this term. Considering this historic confirmation, USAFacts parsed the data on the diversity in the federal judiciary — from the Supreme Court to the district courts. Here’s what we found.
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- When including federal courts like district courts, courts of appeals, and the Court of International Trade, there are currently 1,405 sitting federal judges nationwide. Republicans appointed 54% of them; Democrats appointed 46%.
- Black women are currently about 9% of all sitting federal judges. Constance Baker Motley was the first Black woman named to a federal judge's seat, serving from 1966 to 2005.
- Though the federal courts have become more diverse, particularly since the 1990s, 71% of current federal judges are white and non-Hispanic. For comparison, the nation is 58% white and non-Hispanic.
- Justices appointed since 1950 serve a median time of 18 years.
Republicans have also nominated more Supreme Court justices than Democrats. Read this new article to see just how many more.
For extra credit, revisit this article from Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation. Interact with the scatter plot to see centuries of Supreme Court data from dates served to reason for leaving the court.
Supreme Court to review 'Remain in Mexico'
Later this month, the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on Migrant Protection Protocols — more widely known as "Remain in Mexico." Begun under the Trump administration in January 2019, the policy requires people who flee persecution and arrive at the southern US border to stay in Mexico and wait for their immigration hearing.
Texas sued the Biden administration after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ended the policy last fall, stating that DHS had violated the Administrative Procedure Act. After a series of rulings in the state's favor and DHS appeals, the Supreme Court will review an appeals court's decision that Biden administration must restart the program. Read this article for context on this program, including:
- From late January 2019 to February 7, 2022, the program had 69,371 enrollees.
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- Mexican citizens are officially exempted from the policy. Most immigrants denied entry at the southern border during the program have been from Guatemala (13,793 encounters at the southern border in January 2022), Honduras (11,838), and El Salvador (5,783). There were 62,681 January encounters with people from places other than those three nations and Mexico.
- Fifty-six thousand people were enrolled in the Migrant Protection Protocol program in 2019, compared to 922,000 total immigration encounters at the southwest border. The people in these other encounters were either not admitted at the point of entry or apprehended attempting unauthorized entry without being able to enroll in the program.
Click here to learn more ahead of the Supreme Court's review.
One last fact
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The average family with children spent $7,131 of their income to pay for childcare last year. And nationwide, childcare costs were 28% higher in 2020 than in 2010.
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