List of female state supreme court justices explained

Female state supreme court justices

State	Justice	Year
Alabama		1974
Alabama		1995
Alabama		2004
Alabama		2007
Alabama		2011
Alabama		2016
Alabama		2019
Alaska		1996
Alaska		2009
Alaska		2016
Alaska		2021
Arizona		1961
Arizona		1998
Arizona		2002
Arizona		2012
Arizona		2021
Arkansas		1976
Arkansas		1995
Arkansas		1997
Arkansas		2004
Arkansas		2008
Arkansas		2008
Arkansas		2010
Arkansas		2012
Arkansas		2015
Arkansas		2021
California		1977
California		1989
California		1994
California		1996
California		2006
California		2011
California		2015
California		2022
California		2023
Colorado		1979
Colorado		1987
Colorado		1995
Colorado		1998
Colorado		2006
Colorado		2010
Colorado		2017
Colorado		2021
Connecticut		1978
Connecticut		1992
Connecticut		2000
Connecticut		2013
Connecticut		2018
Connecticut		2020
Connecticut		2022
Connecticut		2023
Delaware		1994
Delaware		2014
Delaware		2019
Delaware		2023
District of Columbia		1967
District of Columbia		1975
District of Columbia		1983
District of Columbia		1990
District of Columbia		1995
District of Columbia		2005
District of Columbia		2006
District of Columbia		2006
District of Columbia		2009
District of Columbia		2011
District of Columbia		2012
Florida		1985
Florida		1997
Florida		1998
Florida		2019
Florida		2020
Florida		2022
Florida		2023
Georgia		1992
Georgia		1992
Georgia		2017
Georgia		2018
Georgia		2020
Georgia		2021
Georgia		2021
Hawaii		1959
Hawaii		1993
Hawaii		2011
Hawaii		2023
Idaho		1992
Idaho		1993
Idaho		2017
Idaho		2021
Idaho		2023
Illinois		1992
Illinois		2001
Illinois		2010
Illinois		2006
Illinois		2022
Illinois		2022
Illinois		2022
Illinois		2022
Indiana		1995
Indiana		2012
Iowa		1986
Iowa		1993
Iowa		2018
Iowa		2020
Kansas		1977
Kansas		2003
Kansas		2003
Kansas		2011
Kansas		2019
Kansas		2020
Kentucky		1993
Kentucky		1993
Kentucky		2007
Kentucky		2007
Kentucky		2013
Kentucky		2019
Kentucky		2023
Louisiana		1992
Louisiana		1994
Louisiana		1997
Louisiana		2021
Maine		1983
Maine		1993
Maine		1998
Maine		2007
Maine		2020
Maryland		1979
Maryland		1994
Maryland		2001
Maryland		2008
Maryland		2008
Maryland		2013
Maryland		2015
Maryland		2019
Maryland		2022
Massachusetts		1978
Massachusetts		1996
Massachusetts		1999
Massachusetts		2000
Massachusetts		2007
Massachusetts		2011
Massachusetts		2016
Massachusetts		2017
Massachusetts		2020
Massachusetts		2024
Michigan		1973
Michigan		1982
Michigan		1983
Michigan		1995
Michigan		1997
Michigan		1999
Michigan		2009
Michigan		2011
Michigan		2013
Michigan		2015
Michigan		2017
Michigan		2019
Michigan		2021
Michigan		2023
Minnesota		1977
Minnesota		1982
Minnesota		1990
Minnesota		1996
Minnesota		1991
Minnesota		1998
Minnesota		2002
Minnesota		2006
Minnesota		2012
Minnesota		2015
Minnesota		2016
Minnesota		2016
Minnesota		2024
Mississippi		1982
Mississippi		1999
Mississippi		2007
Mississippi		2016
Missouri		1988
Missouri		2001
Missouri		2004
Missouri		2007
Missouri		2021
Missouri		2023
Missouri		2023
Montana		1989
Montana		1991
Montana		2000
Montana		2011
Montana		2013
Montana		2018
Nebraska		1998
Nebraska		2015
Nevada		1992
Nevada		1999
Nevada		1999
Nevada		2007
Nevada		2009
Nevada		2016
Nevada		2019
Nevada		2019
Nevada		2022
Nevada		2023
New Hampshire		2000
New Hampshire		2017
New Hampshire		2023
New Jersey		1982
New Jersey		1996
New Jersey		1999
New Jersey		2000
New Jersey		2006
New Jersey		2011
New Jersey		2020
New Jersey		2022
New Mexico		1984
New Mexico		1994
New Mexico		1998
New Mexico		2012
New Mexico		2015
New Mexico		2019
New Mexico		2021
New Mexico		2021
New York		1983
New York		1994
New York		2000
New York		2003
New York		2013
New York		2013
New York		2015
New York		2016
New York		2021
New York		2022
New York		2023
North Carolina		1962
North Carolina		1986
North Carolina		1992
North Carolina		2006
North Carolina		2007
North Carolina		2011
North Carolina		2012
North Carolina		2019
North Carolina		2021
North Carolina		2023
North Dakota		1985
North Dakota		1996
North Dakota		1998
North Dakota		2014
Ohio		1923
Ohio		1981
Ohio		1989
Ohio		1996
Ohio		2003
Ohio		2005
Ohio		2011
Ohio		2012
Ohio		2013
Ohio		2018
Ohio		2019
Ohio		2021
Oklahoma		1982
Oklahoma		1984
Oklahoma		2011
Oklahoma		2021
Oregon		1982
Oregon		1990
Oregon		1998
Oregon		2006
Oregon		2007
Oregon		2016
Oregon		2017
Oregon		2017
Oregon		2018
Oregon		2023
Pennsylvania		1961
Pennsylvania		1988
Pennsylvania		2006
Pennsylvania		2008
Pennsylvania		2010
Pennsylvania		2008
Pennsylvania		2008
Pennsylvania		2016
Rhode Island		1979
Rhode Island		1993
Rhode Island		1997
Rhode Island		2021
Rhode Island		2021
South Carolina		1988
South Carolina		2009
South Dakota		2002
South Dakota		2011
South Dakota		2014
South Dakota		2019
Tennessee		1990
Tennessee		1994
Tennessee		1996
Tennessee		2005
Tennessee		2009
Tennessee		2014
Tennessee		2022
Texas		1982
Texas		1988
Texas		1992
Texas		1995
Texas		1997
Texas		1999
Texas		2009
Texas		2010
Texas		2019
Texas		2020
Utah		1982
Utah		2003
Utah		2017
Utah		2022
Utah		2022
Vermont		1990
Vermont		1997
Vermont		2011
Vermont		2019
Vermont		2022
Virginia		1988
Virginia		1991
Virginia		1997
Virginia		2011
Virginia		2015
Virginia		2011
Virginia		2019
Washington		1981
Washington		1993
Washington		1995
Washington		1995
Washington		1999
Washington		2001
Washington		2001
Washington		2003
Washington		2008
Washington		2013
Washington		2014
Washington		2020
Washington		2020
West Virginia		1988
West Virginia		1996
West Virginia		2017
West Virginia		2022
Wisconsin		1976
Wisconsin		1993
Wisconsin		1995
Wisconsin		1999
Wisconsin		2003
Wisconsin		2007
Wisconsin		2015
Wisconsin		2018
Wisconsin		2020
Wisconsin		2023
Wyoming		2000
Wyoming		2014
Wyoming		2017
Wyoming		2018

First female justices

Below is a list of the names of the first woman to sit on the highest court of their respective states in the United States.

The first state with a female justice was Ohio; Florence E. Allen was named to the bench in 1923.^[1]

State	Justice	Year
Alabama		1974
Alaska		1996
Arizona		1961
Arkansas		1976
California		1977
Colorado	Jean Dubofsky^[2]	1979
Connecticut		1978
Delaware	Carolyn Berger^[3]	1994
District of Columbia		1967
Florida		1985
Georgia		1992
Hawaii	Rhoda V. Lewis^[4]	1959
Idaho	Linda Copple Trout^[5]	1992
Illinois		1992
Indiana	Myra Consetta Selby^[6]	1995
Iowa	Linda Kinnedy Neuman^[7]	1986
Kansas		1977
Kentucky	Sara W. Combs^[8]	1993
Louisiana		1992
Maine		1983
Maryland	Rita C. Davidson^[9]	1979
Massachusetts		1978
Michigan	Mary Coleman^[10]	1973
Minnesota		1977
Mississippi	Lenore L. Prather^[11]	1982
Missouri		1988
Montana	Diane Barz^[12]	1989
Nebraska		1998
Nevada		1992
New Hampshire		2000
New Jersey	Marie L. Garibaldi^[13]	1982
New Mexico	Mary Coon Walters^[14]	1984
New York		1983
North Carolina		1962
North Dakota		1985
Ohio		1923
Oklahoma	Alma Bell Wilson^[15]	1982
Oregon		1982
Pennsylvania		1961
Rhode Island		1979
South Carolina		1988
South Dakota		2002
Tennessee		1990
Texas		1982
Utah		1982
Vermont	Denise R. Johnson^[16]	1990
Virginia		1988
Washington		1981
West Virginia		1988
Wisconsin		1976
Wyoming	Marilyn Stebner Kite^[17]	2000
United States Supreme Court		1981

Female chief justices

State	Chief Justice	Year
Arizona		1965
Arizona		1970
North Carolina		1975
California		1977
Michigan		1979
Connecticut		1984
North Carolina		1986
Florida		1992
Missouri		1993
Nevada		1993
New York		1993
Kansas		1995
Oklahoma		1995
Washington		1995
Wisconsin		1996
New Jersey		1996
Alaska		1996
Idaho		1997
Minnesota		1998
Colorado		1998
Massachusetts		1999
South Carolina		2000
Maine		2001
Montana		2001
Illinois		2002
Utah		2002
New Mexico		2003
Nevada		2005
Florida		2004
Arizona		2005
Georgia		2005
North Carolina		2006
Iowa		2006
Oklahoma		2007
Alabama		2007
Connecticut		2007
Missouri		2007
Tennessee		2008
Florida		2008
Georgia		2009
Louisiana		2009
West Virginia		2009
Arizona		2009
Minnesota		2010
Tennessee		2010
Washington		2010
Wyoming		2010
New Hampshire		2011
Ohio		2011
Virginia		2011
California		2011
Maryland		2013
Illinois		2013
Louisiana		2013
Missouri		2013
Colorado		2014
Indiana		2014
Tennessee		2014
New Mexico		2014
Missouri		2015
Wisconsin		2015
New York		2016
Alabama		2016
New Mexico		2017
Washington		2017
Oregon		2018
North Carolina		2019
Oklahoma		2019
Illinois		2019
Kansas		2019
Michigan		2019
West Virginia		2019
Washington		2020
Nevada		2020
Iowa		2020
Massachusetts		2020
Wisconsin		2021
Maine		2021
Wyoming		2021
Pennsylvania		2022
Illinois		2022
Michigan		2022
Ohio		2023
West Virginia		2023
California		2023
Nevada		2023

Instances of a female-majority court

Throughout history, men have outnumbered women on the highest court in each state. Instances of female-majority courts remain an uncommon occurrence, but in recent decades they have appeared more frequently. Currently, the United States Supreme Court has the highest percentage of women justices it has ever had, yet there has still never been a majority.

State	Year
All-Woman Supreme Court (special sitting of the Supreme Court of Texas for a single case)	1925
Arkansas	2015–present^[18]
California	2011–2017; 2022–present
District of Columbia	2006–2013, 2017–present
Idaho	2023–present^[19]
Illinois	2023–present^[20]
Maryland	2013–present
Michigan	1997, 2009, 2021–present
Minnesota	1991, 2016–present
Missouri	2023–present^[21]
Nevada	2019–present^[22]
New Jersey	2011
New Mexico	2015–present
New York	2003–2008, 2013–2017
North Carolina	2011
Ohio	2002, 2005, 2011, 2018–2022
Oregon	2017–present
Rhode Island	2021–present
Tennessee	2009–2021
Utah	2021-present
Vermont	2017–present
Washington	2013–present
Wisconsin	2003–2004, 2007–present
West Virginia	2017–present
Wyoming	2018–present

Notes and References

1. Web site: Florence E. Allen. Ohio History Central. July 1, 2005.
2. Web site: Jean Dubofsky . Cogreatwomen.org . 2012-08-21 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120219092015/http://www.cogreatwomen.org/dubofsky.htm . 2012-02-19 .
3. Web site: Del. Supreme Court Justice Berger to retire . Delaware Online .
4. Web site: Archived copy . 2012-08-21 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100715070244/http://www.hsba.org/resources/1/About%20HSBA/Presidents%20Timeline.pdf . 2010-07-15 . dead .
5. Web site: Women Wielding Power-Idaho . Nwhm.org . 2012-08-21.
6. Web site: Indiana Supreme Court Justice Biographies: Justice Myra Consetta Selby . In.gov . 2012-08-21 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110516091156/http://www.in.gov/judiciary/citc/justice-bios/selby.html . 2011-05-16 .
7. Web site: Iowa Women's Archives – Linda Kinney Neuman Papers – The University of Iowa Libraries . Sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu . 2012-08-21 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120508184844/http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/findingaids/html/NeumanLinda.htm . 2012-05-08 .
8. Web site: Kentucky: Court of Justice – Judge Sara Walter Combs . Courts.ky.gov . 2010-07-28 . 2012-08-21 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120730131521/http://courts.ky.gov/courtofappeals/judges/combs.htm . 2012-07-30 .
9. Web site: Rita C. Davidson biography . Mdarchives.us . 2012-08-21 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304035628/http://www.mdarchives.us/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/002900/002965/html/bio2.html . 2016-03-04 . dead .
10. Web site: Michigan Supreme Court History Society :: . Micourthistory.org . 2012-08-21 .
11. Web site: Chief Justice Lenore Prather speaking this week at MSU (Mississippi State University) . Msstate.edu . 2000-10-10 . 2012-08-21.
12. Web site: Brief History of the Montana Judicial Branch – Montana Courts . Courts.mt.gov . 2009-02-05 . 2012-08-21 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120627165031/http://courts.mt.gov/supreme/history.mcpx . 2012-06-27 . dead .
13. Web site: Hon. Marie L. Garibaldi . Njwomenshistory.org . 2012-08-21.
14. Web site: The Honorable Mary Coon Walters / Chief Justice Pamela B. Minzner Marker . Hmdb.org . 2011-07-31 . 2012-08-21.
15. Web site: WILSON, ALMA BELL (1917–1999) . Digital.library.okstate.edu . 2012-08-21.
16. Web site: October 2008 | In Chambers with Vermont's Supreme Court Justices Denise Johnson & Marilyn Skoglund . Vermontwoman.com . 2012-08-21 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090210182139/http://vermontwoman.com/articles/1008/supremecourt.shtml . 2009-02-10 .
17. Web site: Our Legacy of Success . Made In Wyoming . 2012-08-21 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090816183737/http://www.madeinwyoming.net/profiles/kite.php# . 2009-08-16 . dead .
18. Web site: March 2014 . First Female Majority in Arkansas Supreme Court History . January 19, 2024.
19. Web site: November 16, 2023 . NEWS BRIEFS: Idaho's Supreme Court is made up of a majority of women for the first time . December 18, 2023 . Inlander . en.
20. Web site: Theis, sworn in as chief justice, says partisanship has no role on state Supreme Court . 2022-12-10 . Capitolnewsillinois.com . en-US.
21. Web site: November 1, 2023 . Stephens Alumna Appointed to State's Highest Court, Creating First-Ever Female Majority . November 29, 2023 . Stephens College.
22. Web site: Majority of women set to be on Supreme Court | NevadaAppeal.com . 2018-12-19 . 2018-12-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181219134339/https://www.nevadaappeal.com/news/government/majority-of-women-set-to-be-on-supreme-court/ . dead .