More Minority Federal Judges Are Appointed By Democratic Presidents Rather Than Republican Presidents

Judge William Henry Hastie.
Courtesy of Wikipedia.

As a lawyer and law professor, I couldn't help but post the data I'm about to reveal below.  Here's a trivia fact, most people, unless they're legal historians, probably don't know.  William Henry Hastie was the first black person appointed by a U.S. President to serve on the federal bench.  Judge Hastie was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1937, to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Virgin Islands.  In fact, in 1949, President Truman elevated Judge Hastie to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.  

In comparison to Democrats, Republicans have a relatively poor track record of appointing minorities to the federal bench.  Here's a glance at the number of appointments of minorities by President, from President Truman to President Obama:

More minority judges have been appointed in the past twenty-five years than at any other time.  In fact, seven (7) out of ten (10) minority judges have been appointed in this time period.  Progress has been made.  Cumulatively, the number of minority judges to be appointed and serve on the federal district and appellate courts has tripled since 1990.

Despite strides being made by minorities, in terms of appointment to the federal bench, most appointees are white.  The chart below bears witness to this fact:

View the complete study here:

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/07/19/more-minority-federal-judges-have-been-appointed-under-democratic-than-republican-presidents/