The First Woman Judge

The story of Florence Allen, the first woman judge in the United States, and women’s transformation of the legal system.

Florence Allen was the first woman judge many times over—first federal appellate court judge, first elected to a state supreme court, and first shortlisted to the US Supreme Court. During Allen’s forty years on the bench, the country swung between progressivism and conservatism, with passage of a constitutional amendment for women’s voting rights, two world wars, the Red and Lavender Scares, and the New Deal.

Throughout these changes, women as a group used their new political standing to transform the courts in both form and substance, first by becoming active agents in the justice system, and then by developing theories of public law, social justice, and fair process. In addition to exploring Allen’s fascinating legal life, author Tracy Thomas uses her story to recount the larger history of how women infiltrated the legal system as judges, lawyers, jurors, and legislators to demand a more representative system of justice for the welfare of all.