Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States, revolutionized the federal judiciary during his single term by appointing an unprecedented number of women and people of color to the bench. Carter, who passed away on Sunday at the age of 100, reshaped a judiciary historically dominated by white men, leaving an enduring legacy of diversity.
Appointing Trailblazers to the Bench
During his presidency, Carter appointed 262 life-tenured judges to the lower courts, the highest number for any single-term president. Although he never had the opportunity to name a U.S. Supreme Court justice, Carter prepared the stage for future historic appointments. For instance, he named Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1980. Ginsburg, who later joined the Supreme Court under President Bill Clinton in 1993, credited Carter for inspiring her judicial ambitions.
“The first time I ever thought of being a judge was when Jimmy Carter announced to the world that he wanted to change the complexion of the U.S. judiciary, which he did,” Ginsburg reflected at a 2015 event.
Carter also appointed Stephen Breyer to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 1980, another trailblazer who ascended to the Supreme Court under Clinton.
Breaking Barriers for Women and People of Color
Before Carter’s presidency, only eight women and 31 people of color had served as federal judges. Carter shattered those barriers by appointing 40 women and 57 people of color, including eight women of color. His appointments more than doubled the diversity on the bench within just four years.
To achieve this monumental shift, Carter signed the Omnibus Judgeship Act of 1978, which created 152 additional judgeships, allowing him to significantly expand the judiciary. Leaders in the legal community, such as Maya Wiley of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, praised Carter for addressing the glaring lack of representation in federal courts.
An Enduring Legacy
Although later two-term presidents like Barack Obama and Donald Trump surpassed Carter’s overall number of judicial appointments, no president has outpaced Carter’s single-term record. Even Joe Biden, who ranks second with 235 confirmed judicial appointments in his first term, has yet to match Carter’s milestone within a single term.
Carter himself downplayed the difficulty of his efforts. During a 2012 event at the Carter Center, he remarked, “I did not feel what I did required any sort of political courage because I think the nation was ready for it.”
However, he acknowledged that the work of diversifying the judiciary remains incomplete, saying, “We still have a long way to go.”
By prioritizing inclusion and representation, Jimmy Carter forever changed the federal judiciary, ensuring that the bench better reflects the diversity of the nation it serves.
