State high courts fall short on representation
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More than three-quarters of U.S. states have a smaller share of justices of color on their high courts than the share of people of color in their population, per an Axios analysis of new Brennan Center for Justice data.
Why it matters: State high courts shape major decisions on voting, abortion, civil rights and criminal justice, yet their benches often don't reflect the communities they serve.
By the numbers: In 39 states, people of color make up a smaller share of the state's high courts than of the population, Axios finds.
- Seventeen states have no high-court justices of color, the Brennan Center notes, and in 11 of those states, people of color make up at least 20% of the population.
- Texas has the largest gap: 11% of its high-court justices are people of color, compared with 61% of its population — a 50-percentage-point difference.
- By contrast, Florida's Supreme Court has a 22-point greater share of people of color than the state's population.
The latest: The overall share of state high court seats held by people of color remained at 21% since the Brennan Center's November 2025 update.
- Since then, 25 justices have joined state high courts. Of those, 84% were white.
The fine print: The Brennan Center's data are a snapshot as of Sept. 8. Race and ethnicity reflect how justices publicly identify, based on Brennan Center research.
- Axios compared the share of a state's Supreme Court justices of color with that of people of color in the state's population, using Census Bureau 2020–2024 American Community Survey estimates.
