Until President Jimmy Carter launched an effort to diversify the lower federal courts, the U. S. courts of appeals had been composed almost entirely of white males. By 2008, a quarter of sitting judges were women and 15 percent were African American or Hispanic. Underlying the argument made by administration officials for a diverse federal judiciary has been the expectation that the presence of women and minorities will ensure that the policy of the courts will reflect the experiences of a diverse population. Drawing from oral histories and data on appellate decisions through 2008, the authors demonstrate that diversity on the bench affects individual judges’ choices and the overall character and quality of judicial deliberation and decisions. The first three chapters of the book trace the paths of minority and female judges to the bench and examine how group membership, status, and socialization forces shape individual judicial behavior. The next two chapters shift to consider how gender and racial diversity affect the collective behavior of small groups and institutions. Chapter 4 evaluates how the makeup of appellate panels drives decisional outcomes, while chapter 5 looks at the ways that changing norms and critical actors affected how individual courts experienced judicial diversification. Looking forward, the authors anticipate the ways in which these process effects will become more pronounced as a result of the highly diverse Obama appointment cohort. | Diversity Matters by Susan B. Haire, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters