Diverse Federal trial judges are more likely to rule in favor of minorities and women in sex and racial discrimination cases

Since 2009, 62 percent of President Obama’s Federal trial court judge selections have been racial and ethnic minorities and/or females; he now holds the record for having the highest percentage of female and racial minority trial judges appointed by a US president. But do these new judges work to represent female and racial minority causes? In new research which studies employment discrimination cases filed in the federal courts, Christina L. Boyd finds that female judges are about 15 percent more likely to find in favor of the plaintiff than male judges, and that black judges are 39 percent more likely than white judges to rule in favor of the plaintiff in race discrimination decisions.