Supreme Court Justices

When the Judiciary Act of 1789 created the U.S. Supreme Court, it consisted of six members: a Chief Justice and five Associate Justices. Over the next several decades, the size of the Court fluctuated before settling at its current size of nine members with the Judiciary Act of 1869.

Under Article II of the U.S. Constitution, the President nominates a candidate when a vacancy opens on the Court. The Senate Judiciary Committee then considers the nomination. After a pre-hearing investigative stage, it will hold public hearings at which the nominee testifies. These hearings provide insight into the qualifications, background, and judicial philosophy of the nominee, among other matters.

The Judiciary Committee will decide whether to report the nomination favorably to the full Senate, report it unfavorably, or report it without a recommendation. The full Senate will vote on whether to confirm or reject the nominee. (No nominee has been rejected in a Senate vote since 1987, when the Senate rejected Robert Bork after he had been nominated by President Ronald Reagan.) If a nominee is confirmed, they will receive their commission and take two oaths before starting to perform their duties. These are the oath required of federal officials under Article VI of the Constitution, as well as an oath required by the Judiciary Act of 1789.

The Constitution allows a President to appoint a Justice while the Senate is in recess. The Senate still must decide whether to confirm the Justice when it reconvenes. President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed three Supreme Court Justices through this method, including Chief Justice Earl Warren. However, recess appointments have been disfavored since then.

At first, the membership of the Court consisted entirely of white Protestant males. Here are some of the pathbreaking Justices whose appointments helped add diversity to the Court:

First female Justice: Sandra Day O’Connor (joined in 1981)
First African-American Justice: Thurgood Marshall (joined in 1967)
First female African-American Justice: Ketanji Brown Jackson (joined in 2022)
First Hispanic Justice: Sonia Sotomayor (joined in 2009)
First Catholic Justice: Roger Brooke Taney (joined in 1836)
First Jewish Justice: Louis Brandeis (joined in 1916)

Justices generally may hold tenure for life, as long as they maintain “good behavior.” Their salaries may not be reduced while they are in office. In theory, a Justice may be removed if they are impeached by the House of Representatives and convicted by the Senate. Justice Samuel Chase was impeached by the House in 1804, but he was acquitted by the Senate a year later. Chase is the only Justice to have been impeached, and no Justice has ever been removed.

The current Justices on the Supreme Court are:

Justice	Joined Court	Nominated By	Previous Position
John Roberts (Chief Justice)	September 29, 2005	George W. Bush (R)	D.C. Circuit Judge
Clarence Thomas	October 23, 1991	George H.W. Bush (R)	D.C. Circuit Judge
Samuel Alito	January 31, 2006	George W. Bush (R)	Third Circuit Judge
Sonia Sotomayor	August 8, 2009	Barack Obama (D)	Second Circuit Judge
Elena Kagan	August 7, 2010	Barack Obama (D)	U.S. Solicitor General
Neil Gorsuch	April 10, 2017	Donald Trump (R)	Tenth Circuit Judge
Brett Kavanaugh	October 6, 2018	Donald Trump (R)	D.C. Circuit Judge
Amy Coney Barrett	October 27, 2020	Donald Trump (R)	Seventh Circuit Judge
Ketanji Brown Jackson	June 30, 2022	Joseph Biden (D)	D.C. Circuit Judge

Below is a list of the Supreme Court Justices who served on the Court of each Chief Justice. (Note that many Associate Justices served with more than one Chief Justice and thus appear more than once here.)

John Roberts Court (2005-present)