Tracy Thomas
SCHOLAR OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND LEGAL HISTORY
"While Florence Allen's many 'firsts' are unique and more than noteworthy, she was so much more than a woman who pioneered the judiciary. The First Woman Judge does justice to the story of how this remarkable woman was able to rise to various judicial positions, all the while enduring the prejudices and challenges of her male colleagues and remaining undaunted."
—Justice Maureen O’Connor, first woman Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court
“Florence Allen broke every barrier but one. First woman elected judge. First woman on a federal appeals court. Shortlisted for the Supreme Court—yet never appointed. This revelatory, carefully researched biography exposes how Allen transformed American courts. Her fight opened the door for generations of women judges to come. Thomas's book is important reading for anyone who cares about the history of the legal profession and the future of the judiciary.”
—Renee Knake Jefferson, Doherty Endowed Chair in Legal Ethics and Professor of Law, University of Houston, and coauthor of Shortlisted: Women in the Shadows of the Supreme Court
“The First Woman Judge recounts the illuminating story of a judicial trailblazer, Florence Allen, who dedicated her life to the law. Allen’s legacy proved women’s qualification for the highest courts of state and federal judiciaries, setting a path for future women like me to serve in those roles.”
—Judge Deborah Cook, Senior Judge, US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and formerly Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court
“One of the leading voices in feminist legal history today, Professor Tracy Thomas situates this masterful portrait of Judge Florence Allen within the broader history of women, law, and the twentieth century. The result is a fascinating and important book that illuminates how women in our nation’s past have shaped its future.”
—Paula A. Monopoli, Professor of Law, University of Maryland Carey School of Law, and author of Constitutional Orphan: Gender Equality and the Nineteenth Amendment
“The best biography yet on Florence Allen, a luminary who has yet to take her proper place in legal and political history. This snappy and well-written biography places Allen’s legal decision-making in historical context and fully analyzes how her sex shaped her career.”
—Sally J. Kenney, Professor Emerita of Political Science, Tulane University, and author of Gender and Justice: Why Women in the Judiciary Really Matter
Tracy Thomas is a law professor and public scholar, nationally recognized for her work on constitutional law and legal history. Her research focuses on women and the law, with an interest in recovering women's stories. She is the director of the Center for Constitutional Law at the University of Akron School of Law. Her legal writings have appeared in the Stanford Journal of Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, Harvard Journal of Law & Gender, Minnesota Law Review, William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, and Constitutional Commentary. This work has been cited by numerous courts including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second and D.C. Circuits, federal district courts in California, Florida, and Nebraska, and state supreme courts in Oregon, Washington, Georgia, Vermont, and Utah. She was featured in a podcast with the National Constitution Center, and is frequently quoted in the media including the Washington Post, The Atlantic, Time, Slate, and NPR. Previously, she was a lawyer at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., and a judicial clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Los Angeles.
Thomas is the author of three books. Her latest, The First Woman Judge: The Life and Legacy of Florence Allen, will be published by the University of California Press in September 2026.
Contact Professor Thomas:
_edited.jpg)