Supreme Court of the United States

The Roberts Court, 2022
Back row (left to right): Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Front row (left to right): Sonia Sotomayor, Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Samuel Alito, and Elena Kagan

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States of America. Because of this, the Court leads the Judicial Branch of the United States Federal Government. It is the only U.S. court established by the United States Constitution. Its decisions are supposed to be followed by all other courts in the United States. Since 1935, the Court has met in its own building in Washington, D.C.; before that, it met in the United States Capitol.

Background

There are 9 justices on the court now: one Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. Courts (a set of all justices of the court while one Chief Justice is serving) are unofficially named for the Chief Justice; the current Court is called the "Roberts Court" after Chief Justice John Roberts.

The Supreme Court chooses which cases it will decide on, by choosing to give a writ of certiorari or not. Almost 7,000 people, known as petitioners, ask the Supreme Court to decide their cases every year, but the court only gives a writ to about 100 or less.

For the Supreme Court to decide a case, the case must be about: federal law, the Constitution of the United States, disagreements between states or their residents, or another court's decision that differs from what the Supreme Court has decided on a similar case. Cases must first be decided by a federal district court and a federal court of appeals or by a state supreme court. Even after that, the Supreme Court can choose not to decide a case for any reason. Cases about disagreements between states or their residents sometimes can only be decided by the Supreme Court, but those are rare.

The justices serve for life unless they retire or are impeached. If a justice retires, he or she can still be asked to serve as a judge on a federal Court of Appeals. New justices are nominated (picked) by the President of the United States, and then must be approved by the United States Senate.

The most recent justice to be chosen is Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was nominated by President Joe Biden in February 2022, to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer. After the Senate approved her, Jackson became the first female African American justice.

The current Court

Justice / birthdate and place		Appointed by	SCV	Age at		Start date / length of service	Previous position or office (most recent prior to joining the Court)	Replaced
				Start	Present
07	Roberts, JohnJohn Roberts January 27, 1955 (aged 70) Buffalo, New York	Bush, GWG. W. Bush	78-22	50	70	September 29, 2005 20 years, 66 days	Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (2003–2005)	Rehnquist
09	Thomas, ClarenceClarence Thomas June 23, 1948 (aged 77) Pin Point, Georgia	Bush, GHWG. H. W. Bush	52–48	43	77	October 23, 1991 34 years, 42 days	Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (1990–1991)	Marshall
01	Alito, SamuelSamuel Alito April 1, 1950 (aged 75) Trenton, New Jersey	Bush, GWG. W. Bush	58-42	55	75	January 31, 2006 19 years, 307 days	Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (1990–2006)	O'Connor
08	Sotomayor, SoniaSonia Sotomayor June 25, 1954 (aged 71) The Bronx, New York	Obama, Barack Obama	68-31	55	71	August 8, 2009 16 years, 118 days	Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (1998–2009)	Souter
05	Kagan, ElenaElena Kagan April 28, 1960 (aged 65) Manhattan, New York	Obama, Barack Obama	63-37	50	65	August 7, 2010 15 years, 119 days	Solicitor General of the United States (2009–2010)	Stevens
04	Gorsuch, NeilNeil Gorsuch August 29, 1967 (aged 58) Denver, Colorado	Trump, Donald Trump	54–45	49	58	April 10, 2017 8 years, 238 days	Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (2006–2017)	Scalia
06	Kavanaugh, BrettBrett Kavanaugh February 12, 1965 (aged 60) Washington, D.C.	Trump, Donald Trump	50-48	53	60	October 6, 2018 7 years, 59 days	Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (2006–2018)	Kennedy
02	Barrett, Amy ConeyAmy Coney Barrett January 28, 1972 (aged 53) New Orleans, Louisiana	Trump, Donald Trump	52–48	48	53	October 27, 2020 5 years, 38 days	Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (2017–2020)	Ginsburg
02	Jackson, Ketanji BrownKetanji Brown Jackson September 14, 1970 (aged 55) Washington, D.C.	Biden, Joe Biden	53-47	51	55	June 30, 2022 3 years, 157 days	Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (2021–2022)	Breyer
Source:

Living former justices

Retired justices of the Supreme Court

Justice Birthdate and place		Appointed by	Retired under	Age at			Tenure
				Start	Retirement	Present	Start date	End date	Length
01	Kennedy, AnthonyAnthony Kennedy (1936-07-23)July 23, 1936 Sacramento, California	Reagan, Ronald Reagan	Trump, Donald Trump	51	82	89	February 18, 1988	July 31, 2018	30 years, 163 days
03	Stephen Breyer (1938-08-15)August 15, 1938 San Francisco, California	Clinton, Bill Clinton	Biden, Joe Biden	55	83	87	August 3, 1994	June 30, 2022	27 years, 319 days

Supreme Court Of The United States Media

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  The Royal Exchange in New York City, the first meeting place of the Supreme Court

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  The court lacked its own building until 1935; for most of that time, it had chambers in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, between 1791 and 1801, the court met in City Hall (pictured) in Philadelphia.

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  John Marshall, chief justice from 1801 to 1835

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  The U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C., current home of the Supreme Court, which opened in 1935

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  Supreme Court justices with President George W. Bush (center-right) in October 2005. Left to right are: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter, Antonin Scalia, John Paul Stevens, John Roberts, Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, and Stephen Breyer.

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  John Roberts giving testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee during the 2005 hearings on his nomination to be chief justice

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  Ruth Bader Ginsburg giving testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee during the 1993 hearings on her nomination to be an associate justice

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  The interior of the United States Supreme Court