Belva Ann Lockwood, First Woman to Argue Before the Supreme Court
Belva Ann Lockwood, pioneering feminist, suffragist, and lawyer, on this day became the first woman to argue a case before the Supreme Court.
Lockwood lobbied Congress for five years between 1874 and 1879 for a law allowing women to appear before the Supreme Congress finally passed a law ranting that right on February 2, 1879. Lockwood then was able to argue the case of Kaiser v. Stickney on this day. Earlier, Lockwood had been denied a law degree from National University School of Law (forerunner of today’s George Washington University). She petitioned President Ulysses S. Grant directly in a letter in September 1873. Within a week she was granted her law degree.
An active feminist and suffragist, Lockwood ran for President of the United States in 1884 and 1888 on the National Equal Rights Party ticket. She became the first woman to appear on official ballots for president.
After being admitted to the District of Columbia bar, Lockwood applied for admission to the Maryland state bar. She was denied admission, with one a judge telling her that “God Himself” had decided that women were not equal to men.
Learn more: Jill Norgen, Belva Lockwood: The Woman Who Would Be President (2007)
Learn about the first two women on the Supreme Court: Linda Hirshman, Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World (2015)