Reagan Record on Naming Women Judges Hit

Despite a dramatic surge in the number of women and minority lawyers, their emergence as federal judges has slowed precipitously during President Reagan’s tenure, new figures released Tuesday disclose.

The statistics, compiled by the staff of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and aired at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, show that 31 of the 367 judges Reagan has appointed to federal courts are women, 14 are Latino, six are black and two are Asian.

Democratic critics, along with minority and women’s legal advocates, charged that the study demonstrates that the Reagan Administration has reneged on pledges to diversify the judiciary.

‘An Exclusive Club’

Reagan’s appointments have helped make the federal bench “an exclusive club open only to white males,” Kennedy declared, noting that 1.6% of Reagan’s choices are blacks, contrasted with 14.3% of President Jimmy Carter’s. Women appointees constituted 8.4% under Reagan, contrasted with 15.5% under Carter.

In defending the Administration at the hearing, Assistant Atty. Gen. Stephen J. Markman said that opponents were “distorting” the statistics and blamed the appointments trend on a small pool of qualified women and minority members.

He testified that, although the pool has grown, the vast majority of potential candidates do not have the tenure, legal experience or political temperament “to be considered seriously” by the Administration.

Administration opponents hope that spotlighting the judiciary statistics will increase the pressure on Reagan to appoint a black or woman to the District of Columbia appeals court seat being vacated by Judge Robert H. Bork, who announced his resignation last month.

All 14 Reagan nominees to the district’s influential federal courts have been white men.

Pressure on Appointment

“We’ve heard indications that the (Justice) department is feeling considerable pressure” to choose other than a white male, one Judiciary Committee aide said.

Estelle H. Rogers, a representative of the Federation of Women Lawyers, said that the statistics leave the impression that Administration officials “simply don’t care about appointing women.”

From Reagan’s first year in office through 1985, the number of women lawyers nearly doubled, from 43,919 to 85,830, the committee said. The ranks of black lawyers climbed from 13,594 to 19,260 in that period.

Although Reagan has appointed fewer women proportionately than Carter, women now make up 8.7% of the federal judiciary, compared to 6.5% in 1980. The percentage of blacks has fallen to 6.3% from 8%.

Markman contended that “it’s not easy” to find those who are ready for the federal bench. “There simply is not the pool,” he said. Many blacks in particular, he contended, have not been members of the bar association for long and--noting what he called a “tragic political reality”--are not Republicans.

‘Open Door, a Fair Shake’

Also, he said, race and sex cannot be preeminent factors in appointments. “We’re committed to an open door, a fair shake . . . not equal proportion.”

Countered Kennedy: “The Administration’s made no real effort to find” qualified minority members. The senator said that Reagan’s aides have limited their search to “an old-boys’ network” in the legal community.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) charged that Reagan’s nominees have often been “mediocre” and dismissed Markman’s emphasis on a color-blind merit system as “hogwash.”