Justices of the Supreme Court
Justices of the Supreme Court are appointed for life by the president and
confirmed by the Senate. Because of the lifetime appointment, the position of
Justice is seen as a very powerful one. A Justice can sit on the bench through
several presidencies and as the Congress changes hands from one political
party to another and back again. The names of most of the Justices are less
well known than the presidents, but any student of the American system of
government should be familiar with them.
The names of Chief Justices are in bold. If an Associate Justice was
promoted to Chief Justice, that person’s name will appear twice in the list.
These Associates are also marked with an asterisk next to the End Date of their
Associate Term. Dates are in MM/DD/YYYY format. The list is presented in Start
Date order. Years in service for currently serving Justices are as of August 7,
2010.
The source for this list is a list published on
the official Supreme Court website.
| Name | President | Start Date | End Date | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Wilson | Washington | 10/05/1789 | 08/21/1798 | 8 |
| John Jay | Washington | 10/19/1789 | 06/29/1795 | 5 |
| William Cushing | Washington | 02/02/1790 | 09/13/1810 | 20 |
| John Rutledge | Washington | 02/15/1790 | 03/05/1791 | 1 |
| John Blair | Washington | 02/02/1790 | 10/25/1795 | 5 |
| James Iredell | Washington | 05/12/1790 | 10/20/1799 | 9 |
| Thomas Johnson | Washington | 08/06/1792 | 01/16/1793 | 0 |
| William Paterson | Washington | 03/11/1793 | 09/09/1806 | 13 |
| John Rutledge | Washington | 08/12/1795 | 12/15/1795 | 0 |
| Samuel Chase | Washington | 02/04/1796 | 06/19/1811 | 15 |
| Oliver Ellsworth | Washington | 03/08/1796 | 12/15/1800 | 4 |
| Bushrod Washington | Adams, J. | 02/04/1799 | 11/26/1829 | 30 |
| Alfred Moore | Adams, J. | 04/21/1800 | 01/26/1804 | 3 |
| John Marshall | Adams, J. | 02/04/1801 | 07/06/1835 | 34 |
| William Johnson | Jefferson | 05/07/1804 | 08/04/1834 | 30 |
| Henry Brockholst Livingston | Jefferson | 01/20/1807 | 03/18/1823 | 16 |
| Thomas Todd | Jefferson | 05/04/1807 | 02/07/1826 | 18 |
| Gabriel Duvall | Madison | 11/23/1811 | 01/14/1835 | 23 |
| Joseph Story | Madison | 02/03/1812 | 09/10/1845 | 33 |
| Smith Thompson | Monroe | 09/01/1823 | 12/18/1843 | 20 |
| Robert Trimble | Adams, J.Q. | 06/16/1826 | 08/25/1828 | 2 |
| John McLean | Jackson | 01/11/1830 | 04/04/1861 | 31 |
| Henry Baldwin | Jackson | 01/18/1830 | 04/21/1844 | 14 |
| James Moore Wayne | Jackson | 01/14/1835 | 07/05/1867 | 32 |
| Roger Brooke Taney | Jackson | 03/28/1836 | 10/12/1864 | 28 |
| Philip Pendleton Barbour | Jackson | 05/12/1836 | 02/25/1841 | 4 |
| John Catron | Jackson | 05/01/1837 | 05/30/1865 | 28 |
| John McKinley | Van Buren | 01/09/1838 | 07/19/1852 | 14 |
| Peter Vivian Daniel | Van Buren | 01/10/1842 | 05/31/1860 | 18 |
| Samuel Nelson | Tyler | 02/27/1845 | 11/28/1872 | 27 |
| Levi Woodbury | Polk | 09/23/1845 | 09/04/1851 | 5 |
| Robert Cooper Grier | Polk | 08/10/1846 | 01/31/1870 | 23 |
| Benjamin Robbins Curtis | Fillmore | 10/10/1851 | 09/30/1857 | 5 |
| John Archibald Campbell | Pierce | 04/11/1853 | 04/30/1861 | 8 |
| Nathan Clifford | Buchanan | 01/21/1858 | 07/25/1881 | 28 |
| Noah Haynes Swayne | Lincoln | 01/27/1862 | 01/24/1881 | 18 |
| Samuel Freeman Miller | Lincoln | 07/21/1862 | 10/13/1890 | 28 |
| David Davis | Lincoln | 12/10/1862 | 03/04/1877 | 14 |
| Stephen Johnson Field | Lincoln | 05/20/1863 | 12/01/1897 | 34 |
| Salmon Portland Chase | Lincoln | 12/15/1864 | 05/07/1873 | 8 |
| William Strong | Grant | 03/14/1870 | 12/14/1880 | 10 |
| Joseph P. Bradley | Grant | 03/23/1870 | 01/22/1892 | 21 |
| Ward Hunt | Grant | 01/09/1873 | 01/27/1882 | 9 |
| Morrisson Remick Waite | Grant | 03/04/1874 | 03/23/1888 | 14 |
| John Marshall Harlan | Hayes | 12/10/1877 | 10/14/1911 | 33 |
| William Burnham Woods | Hayes | 01/05/1881 | 05/14/1887 | 6 |
| Stanley Matthews | Garfield | 05/17/1881 | 03/22/1889 | 7 |
| Horace Gray | Arthur | 01/09/1882 | 09/15/1902 | 20 |
| Samuel Blatchford | Arthur | 04/03/1882 | 07/07/1893 | 11 |
| Lucius Quintus C. Lamar | Cleveland | 01/18/1888 | 01/23/1893 | 5 |
| Melville Weston Fuller | Cleveland | 10/08/1888 | 07/04/1910 | 21 |
| David Josiah Brewer | Harrison | 01/06/1890 | 03/28/1910 | 20 |
| Henry Billings Brown | Harrison | 01/05/1891 | 05/28/1906 | 15 |
| George Shiras, Jr. | Harrison | 10/10/1892 | 02/23/1903 | 10 |
| Howell Edmunds Jackson | Harrison | 04/04/1893 | 08/08/1895 | 2 |
| Edward Douglass White | Cleveland | 03/12/1894 | *12/18/1910 | 16 |
| Rufus Wheeler Peckham | Cleveland | 01/06/1896 | 10/24/1909 | 13 |
| Joseph McKenna | McKinley | 01/26/1898 | 01/05/1925 | 26 |
| Oliver Wendell Holmes | Roosevelt, T. | 12/08/1902 | 01/12/1932 | 29 |
| William Rufus Day | Roosevelt, T. | 03/02/1903 | 11/13/1922 | 19 |
| William Henry Moody | Roosevelt, T. | 12/17/1906 | 11/20/1910 | 3 |
| Horace Harmon Lurton | Taft | 01/03/1910 | 07/12/1914 | 4 |
| Charles Evans Hughes | Taft | 10/10/1910 | 06/10/1916 | 5 |
| Edward Douglass White | Taft | 12/19/1910 | 05/19/1921 | 10 |
| Wilis Van Devanter | Taft | 01/03/1911 | 06/02/1937 | 26 |
| Joseph Rucker Lamar | Taft | 01/03/1911 | 01/02/1916 | 4 |
| Mahlon Pitney | Taft | 03/18/1912 | 12/31/1922 | 10 |
| James Clark McReynolds | Wilson | 10/12/1914 | 01/31/1941 | 26 |
| Louis Dembitz Brandeis | Wilson | 06/05/1916 | 02/13/1939 | 22 |
| John Hessin Clarke | Wilson | 10/09/1916 | 09/18/1922 | 5 |
| William Howard Taft | Harding | 07/11/1921 | 02/03/1930 | 8 |
| George Sutherland | Harding | 10/02/1922 | 01/17/1938 | 15 |
| Pierce Butler | Harding | 01/02/1923 | 11/16/1939 | 16 |
| Edward Terry Sanford | Harding | 02/19/1923 | 03/08/1930 | 7 |
| Harlan Fiske Stone | Coolidge | 03/02/1925 | *07/02/1941 | 16 |
| Charles Evans Hughes | Hoover | 02/24/1930 | 06/30/1941 | 11 |
| Owen Josephus Roberts | Hoover | 06/02/1930 | 07/31/1945 | 15 |
| Benjamin Nathan Cardoza | Hoover | 03/14/1932 | 07/09/1938 | 6 |
| Hugo Lafayette Black | Roosevelt, F. | 08/19/1937 | 09/17/1971 | 34 |
| Stanley Forman Reed | Roosevelt, F. | 01/31/1938 | 02/25/1957 | 19 |
| Felix Frankfurter | Roosevelt, F. | 01/30/1939 | 08/28/1962 | 23 |
| William Orville Douglas | Roosevelt, F. | 04/17/1939 | 11/12/1975 | 36 |
| Frank Murphy | Roosevelt, F. | 02/05/1940 | 07/19/1949 | 9 |
| Harlan Fiske Stone | Roosevelt, F. | 07/03/1941 | 04/22/1946 | 4 |
| James Francis Byrnes | Roosevelt, F. | 07/08/1941 | 10/03/1942 | 1 |
| Robert Houghwout Jackson | Roosevelt, F. | 07/11/1941 | 10/09/1954 | 13 |
| Wiley Blount Rutledge | Roosevelt, F. | 02/15/1943 | 09/10/1949 | 6 |
| Harold Hitz Burton | Truman | 10/01/1945 | 10/13/1958 | 13 |
| Fred Moore Vinson | Truman | 06/24/1946 | 09/08/1953 | 7 |
| Tom Campbell Clark | Truman | 08/24/1949 | 06/12/1967 | 17 |
| Sherman Minton | Truman | 10/12/1949 | 10/15/1956 | 7 |
| Earl Warren | Eisenhower | 10/05/1953 | 06/23/1969 | 15 |
| John Marshall Harlan | Eisenhower | 03/28/1955 | 09/23/1971 | 16 |
| William J. Brennan, Jr. | Eisenhower | 10/16/1956 | 07/20/1990 | 33 |
| Charles Evans Whittaker | Eisenhower | 03/25/1957 | 03/31/1962 | 5 |
| Potter Stewart | Eisenhower | 10/14/1958 | 07/03/1981 | 22 |
| Byron Raymond White | Kennedy | 04/16/1962 | 06/28/1993 | 31 |
| Arthur Joseph Goldberg | Kennedy | 10/01/1962 | 07/25/1965 | 2 |
| Abe Fortas | Johnson, L. | 10/04/1965 | 05/14/1969 | 3 |
| Thurgood Marshall | Johnson, L. | 10/02/1967 | 10/01/1991 | 23 |
| Warren Earl Burger | Nixon | 06/23/1969 | 09/26/1986 | 17 |
| Harry A. Blackmun | Nixon | 06/09/1970 | 08/03/1994 | 24 |
| Lewis F. Powell, Jr. | Nixon | 01/07/1972 | 06/26/1987 | 15 |
| William H. Rehnquist | Nixon | 01/07/1972 | *09/26/1986 | 14 |
| John Paul Stevens | Ford | 12/19/1975 | 06/28/2010 | 34 |
| Sandra Day O’Connor | Reagan | 09/25/1981 | 01/31/2006 | 24 |
| William H. Rehnquist | Reagan | 09/26/1986 | 09/03/2005 | 18 |
| Antonin Scalia | Reagan | 09/26/1986 | — | 23 |
| Anthony M. Kennedy | Reagan | 02/18/1988 | — | 22 |
| David H. Souter | Bush, G.H.W. | 10/09/1990 | 06/29/2009 | 18 |
| Clarence Thomas | Bush, G.H.W. | 10/23/1991 | — | 18 |
| Ruth Bader Ginsburg | Clinton | 08/10/1993 | — | 16 |
| Stephen G. Breyer | Clinton | 08/03/1994 | — | 16 |
| John G. Roberts, Jr. | Bush, G.W. | 09/29/2005 | — | 4 |
| Samuel A. Alito, Jr. | Bush, G.W. | 01/31/2006 | — | 4 |
| Sonia Sotomayor | Obama | 08/06/2009 | — | 1 |
| Elena Kagan | Obama | 08/07/2010 | — | 0 |
Notes:
Total time on the bench for Edward Douglass White: 27 years
Total time on the bench for Harlan Fiske Stone: 21 years
Total time on the bench for William H. Rehnquist, Jr.: 33 years
|Home|
|Constitution|
|FAQ|
|Topics|
|Forums|
|Documents|
|Timeline|
|Kids|
|Vermont|
|Map|
|Citation|
|Survey|
|Support|
Last Modified: 7 Aug 2010