© 2024 Boise State Public Radio
NPR in Idaho
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Apple's latest iOS (17.4) is preventing our livestreams from playing. We suggest you download the free Boise State Public Radio app & stream us there while we work to troubleshoot the issue.
A regional collaboration of public media stations that serve the Rocky Mountain States of Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

Report highlights lack of diversity across Mountain West’s state supreme courts

Nevada’s state supreme court (above) is one of 20 in the nation that doesn’t have a single justice identifying as a person of color, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
NVCourts.gov
Nevada’s state supreme court (above) is one of 20 in the nation that doesn’t have a single justice identifying as a person of color, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

The report, published in May by the Brennan Center for Justice, found 20 states have zero supreme court judges of color, including Montana, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming and Nevada.

In each of those states except Montana, Latino residents make up at least 10% of the population. In Nevada, they make up nearly 30%.

Thomas Saenz, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, says the analysis lays bare a serious problem, especially as the population becomes increasingly diverse.

“Having a justice who has some understanding and appreciation of the context – community context – from which those cases may arise would improve decision making, improve precedent establishing by those courts,” Saenz said.

New Mexico has the region’s most diverse supreme court bench, with two of its five justices identifying as a person of color. In both Arizona and Colorado, two of seven justices are a person of color.

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, KUNC in Colorado, KUNM in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Copyright 2022 KUNR Public Radio. To see more, visit KUNR Public Radio.

Kaleb Roedel

You make stories like this possible.

The biggest portion of Boise State Public Radio's funding comes from readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.

Your donation today helps make our local reporting free for our entire community.