Legislative Diversity and the Rise of Women Judicial Nominees

In several countries around the world, judicial vacancies are filled by executive appointment. In these contexts, what leads an executive to nominate women to these posts? We argue that one factor that incentivizes the appointment of women is the gender diversity within the national legislature. Using the United States Congress as a case study, we examine all judicial nominations since 1900. We find that increased gender diversity within Congress is associated with a higher probability that a woman will be selected to fill a judicial vacancy. This finding holds across multiple levels of federal judgeships and has implications for women in politics, the diversity of institutions, executive nomination strategy, institutional decision-making, and democratic legitimacy.