Make the Judiciary Great Again
AP US Government and Politics
What portion of the federal judges that POTUS Trump has appointed are Black or Hispanic?
AP US Government and Politics
How accurate was your prediction?
That's not a typo. The answer is ZERO. How surprising is that?
How far back in time would you have to go to get a president who named no African-American or Hispanic federal judges?*
From the presidency of Harry Truman through Barack Obama, what trend in judicial diversity do you see in this chart?
Describe two causes of this trend:
Describe two consequences of this trend?
Is this trend good or bad news?
How does the diversity of Donald Trump's federal court nominations compare to the trend?
Why do you think Trump is reversing the trend and moving backwards?
In an increasingly diverse country, do you think most Americans are supportive of a less diverse bench?
In an increasingly diverse country, do you think most Trump supporters are supportive of a less diverse bench?
How much do you think the diversity of Trump's appointments impacts Trump's current approval rating (40% approval; 54% disapproval on March 26, 2018)?
Based on the chart, how does presidential political party affiliation impact the diversity of judicial selection?
Evaluate the following statement (do you agree or disagree, and why?): diversity on the federal courts doesn't matter.
How do you think Trump's appointment of females to the federal judiciary compares to past presidents?**
If you were president (you aren't) how much would you take diversity (racial and gender) into account when naming federal judges?
Explain your opinion of the lack of diversity in Trump's nominees to the federal judges to the bench.
What branch of government could do something to stop Trump from appointing so many White males to the federal court?
What could they do?
In your opinion, how much does Trump's slogan, "Make America Great Again." have to do with race and making America White again?
Visual Extension**
Historical Extension*
100% White Male Appointments
Washington’s appointments to federal courts of general jurisdiction established a national precedent. Over a span of 145 years, the thirty presidents who succeeded Washington made the same sex and race selections. As shown in the table below, the first thirty one American presidents appointed, and the Senate confirmed, 857 White men to federal courts of general jurisdiction.
To get to a president who appointed a smaller portion of Black or Hispanic federal judges you'd have to go back in time. Past Nixon, past Kennedy, past even Dwight. D Eisenhower or Harry S Truman. You'd have to go all the way back to Herbert Hoover (born 1874) to get a president who named zero Black or Hispanic judges.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed the first woman to serve as a federal judge on a court of general jurisdiction. On March 6, 1934, President Roosevelt nominated Florence Ellinwood Allen to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The Senate confirmed Allen on March 15, 1934, and she received her commission six days later. Roosevelt also apoointed the firm African American male to the federal bench. Roosevelt modestly challenged racial segregation in the federal judiciary. He appointed an African American Harvard Law School graduate, William H. Hastie, to a four -year term as a federal judge in the U.S. Virgin Islands. With his appointment, Judge Hastie became the first man of color to serve on the federal bench.
Harry S. Truman became president upon Roosevelt’s death in 1945. Truman appointed Irvin Mollison, the first African American male federal judge to a court of general jurisdiction.
In 1960, Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed the first Asian federal judge, Cyrus Niles Tavares.
President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the first president to appoint more than two men of color to the federal bench. On March 24, 1961, slightly more than two months after assuming office, Kennedy nominated the first Latino candidate to the bench - Reynaldo Guerra Garza. The Senate confirmed him on April 13, 1961.
