Women of the Courts Symposium: Women’s Progress at the Bar and on the Bench: Pathmarks in Alabama and Elsewhere in the Nation

Women also began to show up on the bench in the 20th century's middle years. In prior essays, I have written in praise of three door openers at the federal level: Florence Ellinwood Allen, appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in 1934; Burnita Shelton Matthews, appointed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 1949; and Shirley Mount Hufstedler, appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1968. This morning, I will speak only of the first of these waypavers at the federal level, Florence Allen, first woman ever to serve on an Article III federal court. In addition, I will speak of a nationally known trailblazer here in Alabama, Janie Ledlow Shores, this State's first female Supreme Court Justice.

Print Location Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Women of the Courts Symposium: Women's Progress at the Bar and on the Bench: Pathmarks in Alabama and Elsewhere in the Nation, 36 U. Tol. L. Rev. 851 (2005).

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