Many Federal Courts Have Never Had a Black Judge (Podcast)

More than a quarter of the nation’s federal district courts have never had even one Black judge. That’s the takeaway from a new report from Bloomberg Law’s Tiana Headley and Andrew Satter.

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In some instances, this reflects the small Black populations within these courts’ respective jurisdictions. But that’s not the case in places like the Southern District of Georgia, where the region’s large Black population has never been tapped for a federal judgeship.

On this episode of our weekly news podcast, On The Merits, Tiana and Andrew talk about the lack of diversity on federal trial courts and about the situation in South Georgia specifically, where prominent Black lawyers have been continually passed over for the rare open seats on the court.

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