State Supreme Court Diversity – September 2026 Update

State supreme courts have been in the spotlight in recent years for hearing cases related to reproductive autonomy, LGBTQ+ rights, environmental justice, and other important issues. Yet despite their importance, and an increasingly diverse population within the United States, many state supreme courts fail to reflect both the communities they serve and the broader legal profession.

Since 2019, the Brennan Center has collected data detailing racial, ethnic, and gender demographics on state high courts across the country, and expanded the data collection in 2021 to include the professional backgrounds of justices who sit on these courts. This analysis serves as the annual update to that data, offering a snapshot of the composition of every state supreme court and Washington, DC’s highest court as of September 8, 2026.

These are the key findings since our last update. Some justices identify as more than one race and are therefore double counted across categories:

• In 17 states, no justices identify as a person of color, including in 11 states where people of color make up at least 20 percent of the population.
  • 24 states have no Black justices.
  • 39 states and DC have no Latino justices.
  • 40 states have no Asian American justices.
  • 47 states and DC have no Native American justices.
• Across all 50 states and Washington, DC, 21 percent of state supreme court seats are held by people of color.
• Men hold 58 percent of high court seats.
• There are no women judges on the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. In 8 states, there is only one woman on the supreme court bench.
• In 24 states, there are no women of color on the state supreme court. In 14 states and DC, only one woman of color sits on the supreme court bench.
• 40 percent of sitting justices are former prosecutors, while only 10 percent are former public defenders.

Since the Brennan Center last published data in November 2025, 25 new justices have joined state high court benches across 19 states — 21 by appointment and 4 by election.¹

On the whole, this year saw little progress in demographic and professional diversity. Since our last update, 84 percent of new justices taking the bench have been white and 68 percent have been male. While the overall percentage of people of color on state high courts remained constant at 21 percent, the percentage of women decreased by 1 percentage point from 43 to 42 percent. As for professional diversity, the overall percentage of former public defenders and lawyers with civil legal service experience remained at 10 percent and 1 percent respectively.²

Of the 25 new justices taking office since November 2025, 8 are women (one is a woman of color) and 17 are men. Twenty-one of the new justices are white, including in 10 states where people of color make up at least 20 percent of the population — Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.³ Two newly seated justices identify as Asian American, 2 as Black, none as Latino, and none as Native American. In 7 states — New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Wisconsin, and West Virginia — new white justices joined an all-white bench.

In terms of professional background, prior judgeships and commercial law firm experience remain the two most common pathways to the high court bench: This year, 15 justices held prior judgeships and 20 previously worked in private practice. Every state has multiple state supreme court justices with private practice experience. Prosecutorial experience also continues to overshadow other kinds of public service experience nationwide: Fourteen out of the 25 new justices taking office are former prosecutors, while only 2 are former public defenders. Former prosecutors serve on high court benches in 48 states and Washington, DC, while only 23 states and Washington, DC have former public defenders.

Only one justice — Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Chris Taylor — has a background in the advocacy and nonprofit sector, having served as a legal and policy director at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. None have a background in civil legal services. Notably, newly appointed Virginia Supreme Court Justice Junius Fulton has experience serving as both a public defender and a prosecutor, which he has credited with giving him a balanced view of both sides of the criminal justice system.

The net effect of recent additions to the bench produced mixed results with respect to diversity across states and demographic categories. Since last year’s update, the number of states with at least one Asian American justice increased from 8 to 10, following the appointments of Justice Sanjay Tailor to the Illinois Supreme Court and Justice K. Christopher Jayaram to the Kansas Supreme Court. The number of states with all-white supreme courts also fell from 18 to 17, and the number of states without any women of color justices fell from 25 to 24. At the same time, no new Latino or Native American justices have joined the bench in this period. The number of states with female majorities on their high court bench also decreased from 20 to 17.

There are currently 6 vacant state supreme court seats and two vacancies on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Looking ahead, 53 seats are expected to be filled by 2027, either by election or appointment. Forty-eight seats are held by justices already serving on the court and standing for election or appointment to an additional term, 44 of whom are up for reelection (either contested or retained) in November 2026. Thus far, 4 seats have been announced for reappointment in early 2027. Ten justices have announced voluntary retirements by the end of 2026. Nine percent of all justices of color will be up for either election or appointment by early 2027.

In the past year, several states have proposed or enacted legislation that directly affects the composition of state’s high courts and the methods used to select its justices. Part of a growing national trend in which state legislatures seek to exert greater influence over the composition of state courts, such laws can also impact judicial diversity. For example, the Utah Legislature passed a bill expanding the state supreme court from five to seven justices. Following the expansion, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox appointed Jay Jorgensen and Stephen Dent, adding two white men to an already all-white court. The new appointments also flipped the composition of the bench from a female to male majority.

Despite limited changes to demographic and professional diversity across state high court benches this year, some states celebrated historic milestones.

Colorado: Justice Susan Blanco was appointed to the Colorado Supreme Court on February 17, 2026. She is the first Iranian American justice on the state’s high court. Prior to her appointment, Blanco served as deputy district attorney and was the first female chief judge of the 8th Judicial District.

Illinois: Tailor was sworn in to the Illinois Supreme Court on January 30, 2026, becoming the first Asian American to sit on the state’s highest court. He was previously an associate judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County and the first Asian American to serve as presiding judge of the circuit court’s county division. Tailor has been an active member of the state’s Asian American legal community: He is a former president of the Asian American Judges Association of Illinois and the founding director of the South Asian Bar Association of Chicago.

North Dakota: In December, Justice Lisa McEvers was unanimously elected by the other justices of the North Dakota Supreme Court to serve as the court’s chief justice, becoming the first woman to hold that position. Prior to her election, McEvers presided for over 12 years on the state’s high court as an associate justice. She also previously served as a district judge. 

Kansas: Jayaram was sworn in to the Kansas Supreme Court on August 3, 2026, making him the first South Asian justice to sit on the state’s previously all-white high court. Prior to his appointment, Jayaram served as a district court judge and worked as a civil litigation attorney in private practice.

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