Four. In fact, there have only been four women, total, on the US Supreme Court in the nation's history. President Reagan appointed Sandra Day O'Connor as the first female justice in 1981.
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Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan are current Supreme Court justices. They are women. Sandra Day O'Connor is a former Supreme Court justice. She is also a woman. There are no constitutional qualifications for Supreme Court Justices. No age requirement, education requirement, or even a citizenship requirement. Never mind a protected class.
Historically, Supreme Court justices have typically been white, protestant males from upper-middle to upper class backgrounds. All Supreme Court justices so far have been licensed attorneys, although not all had law degrees, particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries. This profile is gradually changing. The current Court seats six men and three women; and two justices are considered ethnic minorities for demographic purposes. None of the current justices is protestant: six are Roman Catholic and three are Jewish. Some of the justices come from family backgrounds of modest means.
Rutherford B. Hayes signed such a bill in March of 1879. The bill was called "An Act to Relieve Certain Legal Disabilities of Women," thus enabling women to practice in the federal court system. It was passed after the Supreme Court decided in 1876 to bar women from arguing cases before them.Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood became the first woman admitted to the US Supreme Court bar later that year.
Roe v. Wade
1974 the Supreme Court determined in Corning Glass Works v. Brennan that women could not be paid less simply because they would work at a lower pay rate than men. At the same time the Supreme Court confirmed the constitutionality of the Equal Pay Act