Supreme Court Justices by Law School

Where all 116 justices learned the law — and why nearly half of them never saw a law school classroom.

The Short Answer

Harvard Law School has trained more Supreme Court justices than any other — 19 in all (17 with degrees). Yale is second with 11, Columbia third with 5. But the deeper story is that 45 of the 116 justices never attended law school at all — for the Court's first six decades, justices learned the law as apprentices, "reading law" in a practicing attorney's office.

When the Door Narrowed

The ranking below is a scoreboard, and a scoreboard hides the interesting part. For most of this Court’s existence, asking where a justice went to law school was not a useful question, because most of them did not go. 45 of the 116 attended no law school of any kind, and the practice did not taper off quietly: it ended on a date. James F. Byrnes left the Court on 3 October 1942, and no justice since has arrived without one.

Share of the sitting Court holding an Ivy League law degree, 1789–2026

What the shape shows is that the Ivy League’s hold on the Court is recent. From Antonin Scalia in 1986 to Brett M. Kavanaugh in 2018, twelve consecutive justices arrived holding a law degree from Harvard, Yale or Columbia. The last outsider before them was Sandra Day O'Connor of Stanford, in 1981.

Then it went absolute. When Justice Stevens retired on 1 July 2010, every justice left on the bench held an Ivy League law degree, and when Elena Kagan took the oath on 7 August 2010 it became the first full bench of nine in the Court’s history of which that was true. It stayed true for 3,770 days, until Amy Coney Barrett was sworn in on 27 October 2020 with a degree from Notre Dame. Harvard and Yale together peaked at 89.9 percent of the bench in 2020, which is eight of the nine seats.

A note on the phrase. “Ivy League law school” is narrower than it sounds, because the Ivy League is a sports conference. Three of its eight members have no law school at all, so a Princeton, Brown or Dartmouth law graduate cannot exist, and Cornell has one but has never produced a justice. In practice the phrase has meant four schools ever (Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Pennsylvania), three since 1930, and two since 1993.

Which law school has produced the most Supreme Court justices?

Harvard Law School, by a wide margin: 19 justices trained there (17 earned degrees; the rest attended without graduating). Yale Law School is second with 11, and Columbia Law School third with 5.

How many Supreme Court justices never went to law school?

45 of the 116 justices — including John Marshall, whose entire formal legal education was about six weeks of lectures. Before the Civil War, aspiring lawyers "read law" as apprentices in a practicing attorney's office; the law degree only became the standard route in the twentieth century.

Where did the current Supreme Court justices go to law school?

Four to Yale Law School (Thomas, Alito, Sotomayor, Kavanaugh), four to Harvard Law School (J. Roberts, Kagan, Gorsuch, K. Jackson), one to Notre Dame Law School (Barrett). Amy Coney Barrett is the only sitting justice without an Ivy League law degree, and the first appointed since Sandra Day O'Connor in 1981.

When did Harvard and Yale take over the Supreme Court?

Later than almost anyone assumes. Twelve consecutive justices arrived from an Ivy League law school between Antonin Scalia in 1986 and Brett M. Kavanaugh in 2018, and for 3,770 days — from 1 July 2010 to 26 October 2020 — every seat on the Court was held by one. Harvard and Yale alone peaked at 89.9 percent of the bench in 2020. Before 1986 the Court routinely seated graduates of Stanford, Northwestern, Howard, Alabama and St. Paul.

Who was the first Supreme Court justice with a law degree?

Benjamin R. Curtis (appointed 1851), who earned his degree at Harvard Law School in 1832 — where he studied under a sitting Supreme Court justice, Joseph Story. Every justice before him read law as an apprentice or trained at London’s Inns of Court.

Who was the last Supreme Court justice without a law degree?

Robert H. Jackson (appointed 1941), who completed a one-year certificate at Albany Law School but never received a degree — and went on to become the chief American prosecutor at Nuremberg. Stanley Reed (appointed 1938) also attended law schools without taking a degree.

The Full Ranking

#	Law School	Justices	Degrees
1	Harvard Law School	19	17
2	Yale Law School	11	7
3	Columbia Law School	5	4
4	University of Michigan Law School	3	1
5	Cincinnati Law School	2	2
6	Cumberland School of Law	2	2
7	Northwestern University School of Law	2	2
8	Stanford Law School	2	2
9	Albany Law School	2	1
10	University of Virginia School of Law	2	1
11	Washington and Lee University School of Law	2	1
12	Litchfield Law School	2	0
13	Middle Temple (Inns of Court, London)	2	0
14	Centre College law department	1	1
15	Howard University School of Law	1	1
16	Indiana University School of Law	1	1
17	New York Law School	1	1
18	Notre Dame Law School	1	1
19	St. Paul College of Law	1	1
20	UC Berkeley School of Law	1	1
21	University of Alabama School of Law	1	1
22	University of Colorado School of Law	1	1
23	University of Kansas City School of Law	1	1
24	University of Pennsylvania Law School	1	1
25	University of Texas School of Law	1	1
26	Benicia Collegiate Institute	1	0
27	College of William & Mary (Wythe's law lectures)	1	0
28	Transylvania University	1	0
—	No law school — read law / self-taught	45	0

Every Justice, School by School

Read law / self-taught · 45

The apprenticeship era: every justice appointed before 1851, and many after, learned the law in a practicing attorney's office rather than a classroom.

John Jay1789–1795 William Cushing1790–1810 James Wilson1789–1798 James Iredell1790–1799 Thomas Johnson1792–1793 William Paterson1793–1806 Samuel Chase1796–1811 Oliver Ellsworth1796–1800 Bushrod Washington1798–1829 Alfred Moore1800–1804 William Johnson1804–1834 Henry Brockholst Livingston1807–1823 Thomas Todd1807–1826 Gabriel Duvall1811–1835 Joseph Story1812–1845 Smith Thompson1823–1843 Robert Trimble1826–1828 John McLean1829–1861 Henry Baldwin1830–1844 James M. Wayne1835–1867 Roger B. Taney1836–1864 Philip P. Barbour1836–1841 John Catron1837–1865 John McKinley1838–1852 Peter V. Daniel1842–1860 Samuel Nelson1845–1872 Robert C. Grier1846–1870 John A. Campbell1853–1861 Nathan Clifford1858–1881 Noah H. Swayne1862–1881 Samuel F. Miller1862–1890 Stephen J. Field1863–1897 Salmon P. Chase1864–1873 Joseph P. Bradley1870–1892 Morrison R. Waite1874–1888 William B. Woods1881–1887 Stanley Matthews1881–1889 Samuel Blatchford1882–1893 Lucius Q.C. Lamar1888–1893 Edward D. White1894–1910 Rufus W. Peckham1896–1909 Mahlon Pitney1912–1922 John H. Clarke1916–1922 Pierce Butler1923–1939 James F. Byrnes1941–1942

Methodology

Each justice is credited to the law school where they principally trained. "Attended" marks justices who studied at a law school without taking a degree (common in the nineteenth century, when a few months of lectures supplemented office apprenticeship). John Rutledge and John Blair trained at London's Middle Temple — the Inns of Court, the closest thing the English-speaking world then had to a law school — and are grouped there. Justices who learned entirely by apprenticeship or self-study appear under "read law." Details and sources are on each justice's profile page.

Supreme Court Justices by Law School

When the Door Narrowed

Which law school has produced the most Supreme Court justices?

How many Supreme Court justices never went to law school?

Where did the current Supreme Court justices go to law school?

When did Harvard and Yale take over the Supreme Court?

Who was the first Supreme Court justice with a law degree?

Who was the last Supreme Court justice without a law degree?

The Full Ranking

Every Justice, School by School

Harvard Law School · 19

Yale Law School · 11

Columbia Law School · 5

University of Michigan Law School · 3

Cincinnati Law School · 2

Cumberland School of Law · 2

Northwestern University School of Law · 2

Stanford Law School · 2

Albany Law School · 2

University of Virginia School of Law · 2

Washington and Lee University School of Law · 2

Litchfield Law School · 2

Middle Temple (Inns of Court, London) · 2

Centre College law department · 1

Howard University School of Law · 1

Indiana University School of Law · 1

New York Law School · 1

Notre Dame Law School · 1

St. Paul College of Law · 1

UC Berkeley School of Law · 1

University of Alabama School of Law · 1

University of Colorado School of Law · 1

University of Kansas City School of Law · 1

University of Pennsylvania Law School · 1

University of Texas School of Law · 1

Benicia Collegiate Institute · 1

College of William & Mary (Wythe's law lectures) · 1

Transylvania University · 1

Read law / self-taught · 45

Methodology