During its 2025 session, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) granted a motion by West Palm Beach Attorney Salesia Smith-Gordon to admit eight Black women judges and lawyers from Florida into its SCOTUS Bar in Washington, D.C.

The personal injury lawyer is president of the Palm Beach County Sheree Davis Cunningham Black Women Lawyers Association (The Association), which has successfully had 31 Black women admitted to the nation’s highest bar.

Smith-Gordon, daughter of former Florida A&M University President Dr. Walter L. Smith and Attorney Jeraldine Williams, was an honors graduate of FAMU High, earned a bachelor’s degree from the FAMU College of Pharmacy, and earned her Juris Doctorate Degree at the Florida State University College of Law. Her portrait was officially unveiled and hangs in The FSU Law School Rotunda. The law faculty lounge is named in her honor.