The eight Asian-Americans nominated by President Obama to be federal judges equal the total number on the federal bench the year he took office. Six have been confirmed, more than during the entire two-term presidency of either George W. Bush or Bill Clinton.

Even with these additions, though, advocacy groups say 13 Asian-Americans among roughly 800 federal judges — fewer than 2 percent — is far below the rightful share for the country’s fastest-growing minority, which expanded to 14.7 million in the past decade, or just under 5 percent of the population.

The White House has put a priority on greater ethnic, gender and racial diversity in the federal judiciary. Nearly half of Obama’s nominees have been women, 21 percent have been African-American and 10 percent Hispanic, according to statistics compiled by the Alliance for Justice, a liberal advocacy group. But the contrast with prior administrations is most pronounced when it comes to Asian-Americans, who make up 7 percent of Obama nominees.

“The Obama administration has done a fantastic job in pushing very qualified, exceptional, diverse candidates onto the federal bench,” says Tina Matsuoka, executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. “The issue remains, however: There’s still a dearth of Asian-Americans on the bench.”

No Asian-American had been a federal judge until 1971, when President Richard Nixon picked Herbert Y.C. Choy of California for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Eighteen more followed over the next 37 years. Asian-Americans remained rarities on the district courts outside of California and Hawaii, and none had served full time on a circuit court since A. Wallace Tashima of the 9th Circuit took senior status in 2004.

That changed when Obama nominee Denny Chin was confirmed for a seat on the 2nd Circuit a year ago. Other new judges include the first Vietnamese-American, Jacqueline Nguyen, and the first female Korean-American, Lucy Koh, both on courts in California. Meanwhile, Edmond Chang has been confirmed as the first Asian-American to sit on any federal court in the Midwest.

But many Asian-American communities remain underrepresented or not represented at all, says George Wu, president of the Organization of Chinese Americans. There’s only a single South Asian judge (Amul Thapar, who was nominated by Bush) and no Filipino-Americans.

Increasing the ranks on appeals courts is particularly important since they are stepping stones to the Supreme Court, where no Asian-American has ever served, says Karen K. Narasaki, executive director of the Asian American Justice Center.

Such a move was on the minds of Republicans when Obama nominated Goodwin Liu, a leading liberal scholar at the University of California, to the 9th Circuit last year. GOP senators have seized on Liu’s writings, as well as his criticism of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. during Alito’s 2006 confirmation hearing, as evidence that he lacks the experience and temperament for the position.

Liu didn’t get a floor vote in the last Congress. Republicans have also objected to the choice of federal magistrate Edward Chen for a district-court judgeship because, among other issues, he had been a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union. A vote on Chen’s nomination was scheduled for early this week, however, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada pushes for confirmations.