The First Woman Judge: The Life and Legacy of Florence Allen

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 for the U.S. 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 Re...