How long have female attorneys been allowed to argue cases before the US Supreme Court?

Answer 1

Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood (1830-1917) was the first woman admitted to practice before the US Supreme Court, in 1879 (130 years ago, as of 2009).

In the 19th Century, few law schools enrolled women. Belva Lockwood, a 40-year-old widow living in Washington, D.C., applied to Columbian Law School (now defunct) in 1870, but was refused admission because the Dean believed she would be a distraction to the male students.

Unwilling to be deterred, she promptly applied to the National University Law School (now George Washington University Law School) and was admitted, along with a few other women. She completed her studies in 1873, but the school was unwilling to grant diplomas to women. Without a diploma, Lockwood would be unable to gain admission to the District of Columbia Bar.

Lockwood wrote to then-President Ulysses S. Grant, appealing to him as President Ex Officio of the National University Law School Board of Directors, to change school policy. She received her diploma within a week, and was soon licensed to practice in D.C.

Between 1873 and 1885, Lockwood served as attorney in 100 court cases, more than half of which involved divorce actions. She also engaged in general practice, writing bills of sale, deeds, and wills.

In 1875, Lockwood began representing criminal defendants in trial court. Of 69 cases tried, she won 15 and negotiated pleas in 9.

Belva Lockwood also drafted an anti-discrimination bill and lobbied Congress for the right to admit women to the bar. In March 1879, President Rutherford B. Hayes signed into law "An Act to Relieve Certain Legal Disabilities of Women," enabling women to practice in the federal court system. She was the first woman admitted to the US Supreme Court bar later that year.

Ironically, while Lockwood was permitted to practice before the Supreme Court, she was unable to gain admission to the bar in neighboring Virginia. In late 1880, she argued before the Justices for a writ of mandamus (a legal order requiring an official to take, or refrain from taking, action within his scope of responsibility) compelling the Commonwealth of Virginia to admit her to its bar. The Court denied her request, citing an earlier case, Bradwell v. the State, 16 US 130 (1872), where they affirmed an Illinois Supreme Court ruling preventing Myra Bradwell, a law school graduate who had passed the bar exam, from practicing law in that state.

In Bradwell, Justice Bradley, reading the Opinion of the Court, stated: "The harmony, not to say identity, of interest and views which belong, or should belong, to the family institution is repugnant to the idea of a woman adopting a distinct and independent career from that of her husband." Bradwell was applied equally to married and unmarried women.

Although Lockwood was unsuccessful in obtaining her writ, she later won millions of dollars in damages for her clients, the Eastern Cherokee, in the Supreme Court case United States v. Cherokee Nation, 202 US 101 (1906).