Us Supreme Court Justices

The first U.S. Supreme Court Justices met in 1790 and heard their first case in 1792. The original court had six members. The number of justices changed through the years, but in 1869 the number of justices was finally set at nine. There have been sixteen Chief Justices and over 100 Associate Justices since the inception of the U.S. Supreme Court.

1. John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice of the United States. Chief Justice Roberts was born in Buffalo, New York on January 27, 1955. He is married and has two children. He received his J.D. in 1979 from Harvard Law School. Throughout his career he served as a law clerk in both the Court of Appeals and for Associate Justice Rehnquist of the Supreme Court, practiced law for several years, and was Associate Counsel to President Reagan. President Bush nominated him for Chief Justice in 2005.
2. Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice. Born near Savannah, Georgia, on June 23, 1948, he is married and has one child by a previous marriage. He received his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1974. He was Assistant Attorney General in Missouri, worked as Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education, Chairman of the U.S. EEOC for several years, and became an Appellate Judge in 1990. In 1991 President Bush nominated him as Associate Justice.
3. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice. Justice Ginsburg was born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 15, 1933. She is married and has two children. She received her LL.B. from Columbia Law School. She was a law clerk, research associate, and a Professor of Law at both Rutgers and Columbia Law Schools. She was general counsel for the Women’s Rights Project of the A.C.L.U. In 1980 she became an Appellate Judge. President Clinton nominated her as Associate Justice in 1993.
4. Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice. Born in Bronx, New York, on June 25, 1954, she earned her J.D. from Yale Law School. She was Assistant District Attorney in New York County, a partner in Pavia and Harcourt, and Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals. President Obama nominated her as Associate Justice in 2009.
5. Elena Kagan, Associate Justice. Born in New York City on April 28, 1960, she earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1986. Some of her positions were law clerk, law firm associate, assistant and tenured professor of law at University of Chicago Law School in 1995, and visiting professor and professor of law at Harvard Law School.  She was nominated by President Obama for Associate Justice in 2010.