Professional Background of Judges (by Race and Ethnicity)
*Adjunct positions are not counted under the “Academia” category. This reflects a change in approach from our 2019 report and updates prior to 2024.
**Excludes prosecutorial and public defense roles.
Note: Percentages do not sum to 100 because justices may have served in multiple roles, such as serving as a prosecutor before working at a law firm. The columns provide the percentage of judges within a demographic category with a given professional background (e.g., the percentage of white judges who had been prosecutors). Judges with multiple racial or ethnic backgrounds were counted more than once.
**Excludes prosecutorial and public defense roles.
Note: Percentages do not sum to 100 because justices may have served in multiple roles, such as serving as a prosecutor before working at a law firm. The columns provide the percentage of judges within a demographic category with a given professional background (e.g., the percentage of white judges who had been prosecutors). Judges with multiple racial or ethnic backgrounds were counted more than once.