The Mortal Court

Diplomat, co-author of The Federalist Papers, and negotiator of Jay's Treaty. Left the Court to serve as Governor of New York.

Chairman of the Constitutional Convention's Committee of Detail — the man who drafted the first working text of the Constitution. His Senate rejection as Chief Justice remains the first in American history.

The longest-serving of Washington's original appointees and the last judge in America to wear a full wig on the bench. As Massachusetts Chief Justice he ruled slavery incompatible with the state constitution — the first judicial abolition of slavery in American history.

One of only six men to sign both the Declaration and the Constitution — and arguably the most important legal mind of the founding era that almost no one knows. Died fleeing creditors, the first sitting justice to die.

One of only three Virginia delegates to sign the Constitution. Widely praised for penetrating to the heart of legal questions with clarity and without ego — and still without a biographer.

The lone dissenter in Chisholm v. Georgia, vindicated two years later by the Eleventh Amendment. The first strict constructionist on the Court — and the first proven right by history. Circuit riding killed him at 48.

He nominated George Washington for Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army — and then history largely forgot him. First Governor of Maryland; served 14 months before circuit riding drove him off the bench.

Author of the New Jersey Plan at the Constitutional Convention — every small state's equal voice in the Senate traces to his refusal to back down. Helped draft the Judiciary Act of 1789. A city and a university carry his name.

The only Supreme Court justice ever impeached (1804). His Senate acquittal preserved judicial independence for the two centuries since.

Primary drafter of the Judiciary Act of 1789, which created the federal court system. A towering figure in early constitutional law.

George Washington's nephew and Marshall's closest colleague on the early Court. One of the most underappreciated justices of the founding era.

A North Carolina jurist who served only four years and wrote a single opinion. Among the most obscure justices in Court history.

The architect of American constitutional law. His 34-year tenure established judicial review, federal supremacy, and the Court's authority as a co-equal branch of government.

The "first great dissenter" — the most intellectually independent of Marshall's colleagues, who chafed under the Chief Justice's dominating influence.

A New York jurist from a prominent political family — Revolutionary officer, duelist, and a capable if not towering presence on the Marshall Court.

A Kentucky jurist specializing in land law who served reliably but without great distinction on the Marshall Court.

Served 23 years yet left almost no judicial legacy, writing fewer than 20 opinions and becoming famously deaf in his later years.

Marshall's most brilliant colleague — simultaneously a Harvard Law professor and the author of foundational legal treatises still cited today. The youngest justice ever appointed, at 32.

A former Secretary of the Navy who brought a politician's pragmatism to the bench — and ran for Governor of New York while sitting on the Court.

A Kentucky jurist who died after only two years on the Court, leaving unfulfilled what contemporaries viewed as great promise.

A perennial presidential aspirant who served 31 years. Best known for his powerful dissent in Dred Scott arguing that Scott was a free man.

A mercurial Pennsylvania jurist known for erratic behavior on and off the bench, including a period of alleged mental instability.

A Georgia Unionist who remained on the Court throughout the Civil War, estranged from his home state and labeled a traitor in the South.

A capable jurist whose otherwise distinguished career was obliterated by the catastrophic Dred Scott decision — the most consequential and reviled ruling in Court history.

Former Speaker of the House who died in his sleep during a Court term, serving only five years.

A Tennessee Jacksonian who joined the Dred Scott majority but sided with the Union in the Civil War. His seat was abolished by Congress upon his death.

An Alabama senator turned justice who drew the enormous Ninth Circuit — thousands of miles of travel a year — and complained, with cause, that the assignment was unworkable.

The most doctrinaire states'-rights justice of the antebellum era. Dissented from nearly every expansion of federal power.

Tyler's only successful Court appointment after four failed nominations. A steady New York property lawyer who preferred narrow rulings — his draft Dred Scott opinion would have avoided the catastrophe.

The first justice to have attended law school — after a career as Governor of New Hampshire, senator, and Treasury Secretary. Died after just six years on the bench.

A Pennsylvania jurist whose tenure ended in controversy when colleagues urged him to resign due to cognitive decline — one of the Court's earliest incapacity crises.

Author of the great dissent in Dred Scott. Resigned in protest over Taney's conduct — the only justice ever to resign on principle over a ruling.

A brilliant Alabama jurist who resigned to join the Confederacy, serving as its Assistant Secretary of War — then argued the Slaughterhouse Cases after the war.

A Maine Democrat who served 23 years and presided over the Electoral Commission of 1877. Refused to resign despite failing health, hoping a Democrat would name his successor.

Lincoln's first appointment — an Ohio abolitionist who freed his inherited slaves and moved north. Lobbied hard for the Chief Justiceship twice and got it neither time.

A physician turned lawyer, considered by many contemporaries the dominant intellect of the post-Civil War Court. Wrote the pivotal Slaughterhouse Cases opinion.

Lincoln's campaign manager and longtime friend. Wrote Ex parte Milligan, the landmark protecting civilian rights during wartime — then left the Court for the Senate.

The longest-serving justice of the 19th century — a colorful California pioneer who championed economic liberty and survived an assassination attempt by a former colleague.

Lincoln's rival-turned-Treasury Secretary and Chief Justice. Presided over Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial and harbored presidential ambitions to the end.

A Pennsylvania jurist appointed amid the Legal Tender controversy, whose vote helped reverse the Court's own year-old precedent. Retired at the height of his powers to set an example for ailing colleagues.

The decisive vote on the Electoral Commission of 1877 that resolved the Hayes-Tilden election. His role remains one of history's great political mysteries.

Presided over the trial of Susan B. Anthony for voting. Suffered a paralyzing stroke in 1879 but refused to resign for three years, until Congress passed a special pension act.

A capable Ohio lawyer with no prior judicial experience who proved a solid steward of the Court through Reconstruction's retreat and the Gilded Age.

The "Great Dissenter" — a former slaveholder who became the Court's most passionate advocate for racial equality, dissenting in Plessy v. Ferguson with prophetic force.

A transplanted Ohioan and Union general who settled in Alabama — the first justice appointed from a former Confederate state after the Civil War.

Confirmed by a single vote — the narrowest margin in Court history — amid charges he was too close to railroad interests. Then wrote Yick Wo v. Hopkins, a foundation of equal protection law.

A Harvard-trained legal scholar who institutionalized the use of law clerks at the Supreme Court — the first justice to employ one.

A workhorse of admiralty and patent law who wrote more than 400 opinions in eleven years and courted almost no controversy doing it.

A former Confederate officer and diplomat celebrated in Kennedy's Profiles in Courage for his political bravery during Reconstruction.

A Chicago lawyer who surprised skeptics with an effective 22-year tenure, presiding over the transformative era of industrial capitalism and the Insular Cases.

Born in Asia Minor to missionary parents and nephew of Justice Field — the only uncle-nephew pair to serve together in Court history.

Author of the majority opinion in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), establishing the "separate but equal" doctrine that stood for 58 years.

A Pittsburgh railroad lawyer who never held public office before the Court — and retired at 71 exactly as he had promised, a rarity in Court history.

A Tennessee Democrat appointed by a Republican president. Rose from his deathbed to cast a vote in the income tax case — and died five months later.

The first sitting Associate Justice elevated to Chief Justice. Devised the "rule of reason" in antitrust law and led the Court through World War I.

Author of Lochner v. New York (1905), the infamous "freedom of contract" ruling that became shorthand for judicial overreach in economic regulation.

The son of Irish immigrants who served 26 years despite openly doubting his own qualifications — and stayed years past his capacity, forcing the Court to manage around him.

The "Magnificent Yankee" — thrice-wounded Civil War veteran whose eloquent opinions on free speech and legal pragmatism shaped constitutional doctrine for a century. The most literarily gifted justice in Court history.

McKinley's Secretary of State turned justice — a trust-buster's ally who wrote Hammer v. Dagenhart, striking down the federal child labor law he privately deplored.

Theodore Roosevelt's Attorney General and one of the prosecutors in the Lizzie Borden case. Crippling rheumatism forced him off the Court after just four years.

A former Confederate soldier appointed by his old Sixth Circuit colleague William Howard Taft — at 65, the oldest justice ever appointed to that point.

One of the great jurists of the 20th century — resigned to run for president in 1916, lost by whisker, returned as Chief Justice in 1930, and skillfully navigated the Court-packing crisis of 1937.

One of the "Four Horsemen" who blocked New Deal legislation. His 1937 retirement began the Court's retreat from Lochner-era constitutionalism.

A Georgia Democrat appointed by a Republican president who had known him from a single golf vacation. Cousin of Justice Lucius Lamar — one of two cousin pairs in Court history.

A New Jersey chancellor and the Court's leading skeptic of organized labor — yet author of workmen's compensation rulings that upheld the emerging administrative state.

One of the "Four Horsemen" and widely regarded as the most disagreeable justice in Court history — virulently antisemitic, he refused to speak to Brandeis or Cardozo for years.

The "People's Attorney" and first Jewish justice. Pioneered the use of social science evidence in legal argument and wrote opinions on privacy that still define the field.

A Wilson progressive who resigned after six years — bored and frustrated — to campaign for American entry into the League of Nations.

The only person to serve as both President and Chief Justice — and the one who said the Court, not the White House, was the job he always wanted. A transformative administrator of the federal judiciary.

The intellectual leader of the "Four Horsemen" who resisted the New Deal — and author of the landmark Curtiss-Wright opinion on presidential foreign policy power.

A railroad lawyer and son of Irish immigrants, one of the "Four Horsemen" — and the lone dissenter in Buck v. Bell, the forced-sterilization case, though he never explained why.

Author of Gitlow v. New York, which first applied the First Amendment to the states — the quiet beginning of the incorporation revolution. Died the same day as his Chief, William Howard Taft.

Author of Carolene Products footnote 4, laying the groundwork for heightened scrutiny of civil rights — one of the most consequential footnotes in legal history.

The "switch in time that saved nine" — his pivotal 1937 vote reversing his New Deal opposition ended the constitutional crisis over FDR's Court-packing plan.

Among the most admired legal intellects in American history. His opinions on New York's Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court transformed tort law, contracts, and constitutional doctrine.

FDR's controversial first appointment — a former Klan member who became one of the Court's most passionate advocates for civil liberties and an absolutist on the First Amendment.

FDR's Solicitor General who defended the New Deal before the Court he then joined. The last holdout in Brown v. Board — persuaded, finally, to make it unanimous.

A Harvard Law professor and liberal icon who paradoxically became the Court's leading voice for judicial restraint, clashing bitterly with activist colleagues Black and Douglas.

The longest-serving justice in Court history (36 years) — a fierce individualist and outdoorsman whose opinions on privacy and free speech remain landmarks, as did his turbulent personal life.

The Court's most passionate civil libertarian of his era. Wrote a scorching dissent in Korematsu condemning the Japanese internment as "legalization of racism."

Resigned after just one year to become FDR's domestic war mobilization chief — the shortest Court tenure of the 20th century.

The last justice appointed without a law degree and perhaps the greatest prose stylist in Court history. Served as chief prosecutor at Nuremberg while still a sitting justice.

FDR's last appointment — a law dean whose fierce dissent in the Yamashita war crimes case is now a classic of due process. Mentor to a law clerk named John Paul Stevens. Dead of a stroke at 55.

A Republican senator appointed by a Democratic president — Truman's gesture of postwar bipartisanship. A modest, workmanlike justice who joined Brown without hesitation.

An uninspiring Chief who presided over a deeply divided Court. Frankfurter said Vinson's sudden death was "the first indication I have ever had that there is a God."

Resigned when his son Ramsey became Attorney General to avoid conflicts — among the most principled self-recusals in Court history. Author of Mapp v. Ohio.

A New Deal senator and Truman poker crony — the last sitting member of Congress appointed to the Court, and a firm believer that judges should defer to the elected branches.

Presided over the most transformative era in the Court's modern history — Brown, Miranda, Reynolds v. Sims, Loving. Eisenhower called the appointment "the biggest damn-fool mistake I ever made."

Grandson of the first Justice Harlan and the intellectual counterweight to the Warren Court's activism. His careful, process-oriented jurisprudence earned respect across the ideological spectrum.

The Warren Court's master strategist and coalition builder — his ability to craft majorities made him arguably the most influential associate justice of the 20th century.

Suffered a nervous breakdown from the stress of the Court's contentious decisions — the first justice of the modern era to resign for health reasons.

Known for his immortal definition of obscenity — "I know it when I see it" — Stewart was a moderate Ohioan who resisted both liberal and conservative extremes.

The only NFL player to serve on the Supreme Court — "Whizzer" White led the league in rushing before Yale Law. A centrist Democrat who defied ideological categorization for 31 years.

Resigned at LBJ's urging to become UN Ambassador — a decision he later called the greatest mistake of his life.

LBJ's closest judicial confidant. Resigned under an ethics cloud — the only justice in the 20th century forced from the Court under threat of impeachment.

The first African American justice — who had already changed America as the NAACP attorney who argued and won Brown v. Board of Education.

Nixon's choice to reverse the Warren Court revolution — who instead presided over Roe v. Wade, the Pentagon Papers case, and United States v. Nixon.

Author of Roe v. Wade (1973), the most contested opinion of the modern era. Evolved from a conservative Nixon appointee into one of the Court's most liberal voices.

The quintessential swing justice of his era — author of the Bakke affirmative action decision and of the Powell Memo that helped launch the modern conservative legal movement.

The architect of the Rehnquist Revolution — a resurgence of federalism and limits on congressional power that reshaped constitutional doctrine for a generation.

Ford's only appointment evolved into the Court's leading liberal voice across 35 years. Cracked Japanese codes in WWII — the last justice to have served in the war.

The first woman on the Court and the defining swing vote of the Rehnquist era — her vote in Bush v. Gore decided the 2000 presidential election.

The most influential legal thinker of the late 20th century. His originalism and textualism transformed constitutional interpretation and made judicial philosophy a national conversation.

The most powerful swing vote in Court history — the decisive author in landmarks on gay rights (Lawrence, Obergefell), the death penalty, and Citizens United.

The "stealth nominee" who became a reliable liberal — conservatives' cautionary tale, and the inspiration for the Federalist Society's judicial vetting pipeline.

His confirmation hearings — featuring Anita Hill's testimony — were among the most dramatic in history. Now the Court's senior member and one of its most consequential originalists.

The "Notorious RBG" — her pre-Court litigation dismantling gender discrimination was as consequential as her judicial legacy. Became a cultural icon in her eighties.

A pragmatic liberal who believed in active, purposive interpretation of law — the Court's leading advocate for a "living Constitution" approach in his final decades.

The most institutionally minded Chief Justice since Marshall — navigating an era of intense polarization as the Court's pivotal vote after Kennedy's retirement.

Author of Dobbs v. Jackson (2022), overturning Roe v. Wade — one of the most consequential opinions in modern Court history.

The first Hispanic justice. Her memoir traces the rise from a South Bronx housing project to the nation's highest court — one of the great American success stories.

The first woman to serve as Solicitor General before joining the Court. Known for accessible, persuasive opinions and devastating oral-argument questioning.

Scalia's intellectual heir — but where Scalia loved the fight, Gorsuch is a historian who wants to show his work. He would rather be precisely right and slightly isolated than approximately right in comfortable company.

His confirmation hearings, featuring Christine Blasey Ford's testimony, were among the most dramatic since Clarence Thomas — and equally divisive.

Confirmed eight days before the 2020 election to fill Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat — one of the fastest confirmations in modern history.

The first Black woman on the Supreme Court — a former federal public defender with particular expertise in criminal sentencing.