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Supreme Court Historical Society BEYOND THE BENCH
Supreme Court Historical Society
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  • The Judicial Branch
    • The Supreme Court of the United States
    • The Administrative Office of the Courts
    • The Federal Judicial Center
    • Landmark Supreme Court Cases
    • The Role of the Chief Justice
    • United States District Courts
    • United States Courts of Appeals
    • Supreme Court
    • Flow of the Federal Courts
    • Three-Judge Panels
  • Explore the Eras
    • Affirming Judicial Independence (1801-1835)
    • Rights, Commerce, and Reform (1874-1921)
    • Incorporating Rights (1953-1969)
  • Hometowns Program
  • Supreme Court Historical Society

Women

14 results
  • Constance Baker Motley

    Life Story

    The daughter of Caribbean immigrants who became a monumental civil rights advocate, pioneer in politics, and the first Black woman to argue before the Supreme Court and to serve as a federal district judge.

  • Bessie Margolin

    Life Story

    The daughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants who dedicated her four decades of government service to fighting for workers’ rights

  • Belva Lockwood

    Life Story

    The educator, activist, and attorney who became both the first woman to argue before the Supreme Court and to run for President of the United States.

  • Affirming Judicial Independence

    Era

    Through a series of landmark decisions, the Justices of the Marshall Court affirmed the judicial independence of the federal courts, the authority of the Supreme Court, and ensured that the Judicial Branch was an equal branch of the federal government.

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Continue Exploring

  • Advocate

  • Circuit

  • A page of the New York Times displays the text

    First Amendment

  • Seven Black men, all dressed in suits, wait in line to board the front of a bus after the decision in Browder v. Gayle.

    Fourteenth Amendment

  • Landmark Case

  • Native Americans

  • Selective Incorporation

  • Supreme Court

    Voting