# List of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States by seat

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest ranking judicial body in the United States. Established by Article III of the Constitution, the detailed structure of the Court was laid down by the 1st United States Congress in 1789. Congress specified the Court's original and appellate jurisdiction, created 13 judicial districts, and fixed the number of justices at six – one chief justice and five associate justices. The number of justices on the Supreme Court changed six times before settling at the present total of nine in 1869.
The following tables detail the succession of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States by seat. There are no formal numbers or names for the individual seats of associate justices, which are listed in this article simply by number, as well as by the date each was established by Congress. The numbering of associate justice seats 1–4 reflects the order of precedence of the inaugural justices to occupy those seats, which was based upon the seniority of their commission from President George Washington following their confirmation by the U.S. Senate. The fifth original associate justice seat, and the simultaneously created seventh and eighth seats, are numbered according to the order in which each seat's first occupant received their commission from the president following Senate confirmation. Seats six, nine, and 10 are numbered according to the order in which each was created by statute. The start date is the date the justice took the judicial oath of office, and the end date is the date of the justice's death, resignation, or retirement.

## Original seats

The Judiciary Act of 1789 (1 Stat. 73) set the number of Supreme Court justices at six: one chief justice and five associate justices. One of the associate justice seats established in 1789 (seat 5 below) was later abolished, as a result of the Judicial Circuits Act of 1866 (14 Stat. 209), which provided for the gradual elimination of seats on the Supreme Court until there would be seven justices.
Chief Justice :
| Established September 24, 1789 per Article III ||||
| Jay | October 19, 1789 – June 29, 1795 |
| J. Rutledge | August 12, 1795 – December 15, 1795 |
| Ellsworth | March 8, 1796 – December 15, 1800 |
| J. Marshall | February 4, 1801 – July 6, 1835 |
| Taney | March 28, 1836 – October 12, 1864 |
| S. P. Chase | December 15, 1864 – May 7, 1873 |
| Waite | March 4, 1874 – March 23, 1888 |
| Fuller | October 8, 1888 – July 4, 1910 |
| E. White | December 19, 1910 – May 19, 1921 |
| Taft | July 11, 1921 – February 3, 1930 |
| Hughes | February 24, 1930 – June 30, 1941 |
| Stone | July 3, 1941 – April 22, 1946 |
| Vinson | June 24, 1946 – September 8, 1953 |
| Warren | October 5, 1953 – June 23, 1969 |
| Burger | June 23, 1969 – September 26, 1986 |
| Rehnquist | September 26, 1986 – September 3, 2005 |
| J. Roberts | September 29, 2005 – present |
Associate Justice 1 :
| Established September 24, 1789 per Article III ||||
| J. Rutledge | February 15, 1790 – March 5, 1791 |
| T. Johnson | September 19, 1791 – January 16, 1793 |
| Paterson | March 11, 1793 – September 9, 1806 |
| Livingston | January 20, 1807 – March 18, 1823 |
| Thompson | September 1, 1823 – December 18, 1843 |
| Nelson | February 27, 1845 – November 28, 1872 |
| Hunt | January 9, 1873 – January 27, 1882 |
| Blatchford | April 3, 1882 – July 7, 1893 |
| E. White | March 12, 1894 – December 18, 1910$^{CJ}$ |
| Van Devanter | January 3, 1911 – June 2, 1937 |
| Black | August 19, 1937 – September 17, 1971 |
| Powell | January 7, 1972 – June 26, 1987 |
| Kennedy | February 18, 1988 – July 31, 2018 |
| Kavanaugh | October 6, 2018 – present |
Associate Justice 2 :
| Established September 24, 1789 per Article III ||||
| Cushing | February 2, 1790 – September 13, 1810 |
| Story | February 3, 1812 – September 10, 1845 |
| Woodbury | September 23, 1845 – September 4, 1851 |
| Curtis | October 10, 1851 – September 30, 1857 |
| Clifford | January 21, 1858 – July 25, 1881 |
| Gray | January 9, 1882 – September 15, 1902 |
| Holmes | December 8, 1902 – January 12, 1932 |
| Cardozo | March 14, 1932 – July 9, 1938 |
| Frankfurter | January 30, 1939 – August 28, 1962 |
| Goldberg | October 1, 1962 – July 25, 1965 |
| Fortas | October 4, 1965 – May 14, 1969 |
| Blackmun | June 9, 1970 – August 3, 1994 |
| Breyer | August 3, 1994 – June 30, 2022 |
| K. Jackson | June 30, 2022 – present |
Associate Justice 3 :
| Established September 24, 1789 per Article III ||||
| Wilson | October 5, 1789 – August 21, 1798 |
| Washington | November 9, 1798 – November 26, 1829 |
| Baldwin | January 18, 1830 – April 21, 1844 |
| Grier | August 10, 1846 – January 31, 1870 |
| Strong | March 14, 1870 – December 14, 1880 |
| Woods | January 5, 1881 – May 14, 1887 |
| L. Lamar | January 18, 1888 – January 23, 1893 |
| H. Jackson | March 4, 1893 – August 8, 1895 |
| Peckham | January 6, 1896 – October 24, 1909 |
| Lurton | January 3, 1910 – July 12, 1914 |
| McReynolds | October 12, 1914 – January 31, 1941 |
| Byrnes | July 8, 1941 – October 3, 1942 |
| W. Rutledge | February 15, 1943 – September 10, 1949 |
| Minton | October 12, 1949 – October 15, 1956 |
| Brennan | October 16, 1956 – July 20, 1990 |
| Souter | October 9, 1990 – June 29, 2009 |
| Sotomayor | August 8, 2009 – present |
Associate Justice 4 :
| Established September 24, 1789 per Article III ||||
| Blair | February 2, 1790 – October 25, 1795 |
| S. Chase | February 4, 1796 – June 19, 1811 |
| Duvall | November 23, 1811 – January 14, 1835 |
| Barbour | May 12, 1836 – February 25, 1841 |
| Daniel | January 10, 1842 – May 31, 1860 |
| Miller | July 21, 1862 – October 13, 1890 |
| Brown | January 5, 1891 – May 28, 1906 |
| Moody | December 17, 1906 – November 20, 1910 |
| J. Lamar | January 3, 1911 – January 2, 1916 |
| Brandeis | June 5, 1916 – February 13, 1939 |
| Douglas | April 17, 1939 – November 12, 1975 |
| Stevens | December 19, 1975 – June 29, 2010 |
| Kagan | August 7, 2010 – present |
Associate Justice 5 :
| Established September 24, 1789 per Article III ||
| Iredell | May 12, 1790 – October 20, 1799 |
| Moore | April 21, 1800 – January 26, 1804 |
| W. Johnson | May 7, 1804 – August 4, 1834 |
| Wayne | January 14, 1835 – July 5, 1867 |
| Seat abolished July 5, 1867 per Judicial Circuits Act ||

## Additional seats

In 1807, Congress passed the Seventh Circuit Act (2 Stat. 420), which added a sixth associate justice to the Supreme Court. Two more seats were added in 1837, as a result of the Eighth and Ninth Circuits Act (5 Stat. 176); one of these (seat 7 below) was later abolished as a result of the Judicial Circuits Act of 1866. The Supreme Court reached its peak size in 1863, when the Tenth Circuit Act (12 Stat. 794) became law, and a tenth justice joined the Court. After fluctuating from nine to ten to eight members over a six-year period, the size of the Court was restored to nine members through the Circuit Judges Act of 1869 (16 Stat. 44), a broad Reconstruction era reorganization of the federal courts. This act remains the governing law regarding the number of seats on the Court.
Associate Justice 6 :
| Established February 24, 1807 per Seventh Circuit Act ||||
| Todd | May 4, 1807 – February 7, 1826 |
| Trimble | June 16, 1826 – August 25, 1828 |
| McLean | March 12, 1829 – April 4, 1861 |
| Swayne | January 27, 1862 – January 24, 1881 |
| Matthews | May 17, 1881 – March 22, 1889 |
| Brewer | January 6, 1890 – March 28, 1910 |
| Hughes | October 10, 1910 – June 10, 1916 |
| Clarke | October 9, 1916 – September 18, 1922 |
| Sutherland | October 2, 1922 – January 17, 1938 |
| Reed | January 31, 1938 – February 25, 1957 |
| Whittaker | March 25, 1957 – March 31, 1962 |
| B. White | April 16, 1962 – June 28, 1993 |
| Ginsburg | August 10, 1993 – September 18, 2020 |
| Barrett | October 27, 2020 – present |
Associate Justice 7 :
| Established March 3, 1837 per Eighth and Ninth Circuits Act ||
| Catron | May 1, 1837 – May 30, 1865 |
| Abolished July 23, 1866 per Judicial Circuits Act ||
Associate Justice 8 :
| Established March 3, 1837 per Eighth and Ninth Circuits Act ||||
| McKinley | January 9, 1838 – July 19, 1852 |
| Campbell | April 11, 1853 – April 30, 1861 |
| Davis | December 10, 1862 – March 4, 1877 |
| J. M. Harlan | December 10, 1877 – October 14, 1911 |
| Pitney | March 18, 1912 – December 31, 1922 |
| Sanford | February 19, 1923 – March 8, 1930 |
| O. Roberts | June 2, 1930 – July 31, 1945 |
| Burton | October 1, 1945 – October 13, 1958 |
| Stewart | October 14, 1958 – July 3, 1981 |
| O'Connor | September 25, 1981 – January 31, 2006 |
| Alito | January 31, 2006 – present |
Associate Justice 9 :
| Established March 3, 1863 per Tenth Circuit Act ||||
| Field | May 20, 1863 – December 1, 1897 |
| McKenna | January 26, 1898 – January 5, 1925 |
| Stone | March 2, 1925 – July 2, 1941$^{CJ}$ |
| R. Jackson | July 11, 1941 – October 9, 1954 |
| J. M. Harlan II | March 28, 1955 – September 23, 1971 |
| Rehnquist | January 7, 1972 – September 26, 1986$^{CJ}$ |
| Scalia | September 26, 1986 – February 13, 2016 |
| Gorsuch | April 10, 2017 – present |
Associate Justice 10 :
| Established April 10, 1869 per Judiciary Act of 1869 ||||
| Bradley | March 23, 1870 – January 22, 1892 |
| Shiras | October 10, 1892 – February 23, 1903 |
| Day | March 2, 1903 – November 13, 1922 |
| Butler | January 22, 1923 – November 16, 1939 |
| Murphy | February 5, 1940 – July 19, 1949 |
| Clark | August 24, 1949 – June 12, 1967 |
| T. Marshall | October 2, 1967 – October 1, 1991 |
| Thomas | October 23, 1991 – present |