Scant improvement for women’s representation on bench

According to data compiled from The American Bench, women hold 27.5 percent of state judgeships in 2012—a slight increase from 26.8 percent in 2011. At the same time, the percentage of women on the federal bench declined 0.1 percent to 24.1 percent. Representation of women on federal and state courts is highest in the Northeast (30.4 percent) and lowest in the Midwest (24.6 percent).