Sandra Rothenberg

Honorable Sandra I. Rothenberg
Lawyer and Judge
1943 -
INDUCTED 2016

The Honorable Sandra Rothenberg became one of Colorado’s first female judges. In 1990, she was appointed to the Colorado Court of Appeals where she served for nineteen years.

In 1968, Sandra I. Rothenberg was denied a position as a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover, advised her “that our Special Agent position must be limited to males” because of the “strenuous physical exertion” required to perform the job. Rothenberg was undeterred and became the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit alleging sexual discrimination by the FBI. This historic case led the way to many other legal challenges to discrimination against women in the workplace nationwide. While practicing law in Colorado, Rothenberg successfully represented Janet Bonnema, a female engineer who was denied the right to work at the Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel because of her gender.

“I’m glad the FBI will now follow the law.” — Sandra Rothenberg