Jimmy Carter never appointed a Supreme Court justice, but he left a remarkable judicial legacy

Jimmy Carter, who served a single full presidential term without the chance to appoint a Supreme Court justice, nonetheless left behind an incomparable judicial legacy.

Jimmy Carter, who served a single full presidential term without the chance to appoint a Supreme Court justice, nonetheless left behind an incomparable judicial legacy. He was the first president to significantly diversify the lower federal courts by appointing female and minority judges — a point that the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg often touted. Carter named Ginsburg to an important Washington-based US Court of Appeals in 1980, which positioned her for eventual elevation to the Supreme Court. His presidency was the first during which women made up a significant number of confirmed circuit and district court nominees, according to a Congressional Research Service compilation of judicial appointments. During his one-term presidency, 41 of his appointees were women. Women made up 12 of his 59 circuit court appointees and 29 of his total 203 district court appointees. Until Carter’s tenure, only two women had ever been named as circuit court judges and six as district court judges. “Once Carter appointed women to the bench in numbers, there was no turning back,” Ginsburg, who died in 2020, declared in one speech.