List of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States
In order to become a Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States, an individual must be nominated by the President of the United States and approved by the U.S. Senate, with at least half of that body approving in the affirmative. Generally, a justice's qualifications are judged by the President and, most visibly, by a Senate hearing. There is no definitive qualification of age or experience that is a standard to be met; instead, there is a much more subjective process taken by the Senate, occasionally resulting in a sometimes controversial defeat of judicial nominees.
Justices in chronological order
The following list consists of all Supreme Court Justices since 1789 placed in the order in which they took the judicial oath of office and thereby started their term of office.
- The names of Justices who are active (as of Chief Justice John Robert's inauguration on September 29, 2005) are in bold.
- Justices who received a recess appointment to the Supreme Court have an asterisk(*) following their name. All but one of these recess appointments went on to be confirmed by the Senate during the following session of Congress.
- Senior status sometimes causes confusion. When a justice assumes senior status, he or she leaves the Supreme Court for most practical purposes, such as the en banc decisions that form the bulk of the Court's workload. However, their appointment has technically not been terminated. Usually, a justice will die in senior status, so the "Reason Appointment Terminated" will be listed as "death", even though for most practical purposes the justice retired before they died. In fact, as of 2005, there is only one justice who has assumed senior status and not died in senior status: Charles Evans Whittaker.
(a) This individual was elevated from Associate Justice to Chief Justice. Unlike the inferior courts, the Chief Justice is separately nominated and subject to a separate confirmation process, regardless of whether or not (s)he is already an Associate Justice.
(b) There is some disagreement on how Moody exited office. According to the Federal Judicial Center, Moody resigned. According to the Supreme Court Historical Society, Moody retired. It turns out that the confusion comes from the fact that Moody was allowed to retire by special act of Congress in 1910 due to prolonged ill health. (Moody did not meet the minimum age and service requirements to retire without this waiver.)
(c) There is some disagreement on how William Howard Taft exited office. According to some sources, such as the Supreme Court Historical Society, Taft retired. According to others, such as the Federal Judicial Center, Taft resigned.
(d) Although Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement from active service on July 1, 2005, it will not be effective until her successor is confirmed. John G. Roberts, Jr. was nominated to fill her seat. However, his nomination as O'Connor's successor was withdrawn when he was nominated to the position of Chief Justice following the death of William Rehnquist.
Justices by seat
There have been a total of eleven seats: one Chief Justiceship and ten Associate Justiceships. Two of the Associate Justiceships were abolished, leaving the nine-seat Court of today.
The Judicial Circuits Act of July 23, 1866 [14 Stat. 209] provided that an Associate Justiceship would be abolished as it became vacant until there were six Associate Justiceships. Since there were nine Associate Justiceships, three were to be abolished:
- Seat 7 was vacant when it passed, and hence was abolished on July 23, 1866. John Catron was its first last occupant.
- Seat 5 was abolished upon the death of James Moore Wayne on July 5, 1867.
- The Circuit Judges Act of 1869 [see 16 Stat. 44] superseded the Judicial Circuits Act before a third seat could be abolished.
The Associate Justiceships are numbered in order of their creation. If seats were established simultaneously, they are numbered in the order in which they were filled.
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(a) Although Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement from active service on July 1, 2005, it will not be effective until her successor is confirmed. John G. Roberts, Jr. was nominated to fill her seat. However, his nomination as O'Connor's successor was withdrawn when he was nominated to the position of Chief Justice following the death of William Rehnquist.
Justices by Chief Justice
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References
- "Judges of the United States Courts". Official website of the Federal Judicial Center. November 21.
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- "Members of the Supreme Court from the Supreme Court of the United States" (PDF). Official website of the Supreme Court of the United States. May 29.
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