Past Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States

In order to become a Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States, an individual must be nominated by the President of the United States and approved by the Senate, with at least half of that body approving in the affirmative. Generally, a justice's qualifications are judged by the President and, most visibly, by a Senate hearing. There is no definitive qualification of age or experience that is a standard to be met; instead is a much more subjective process taken by the Senate, occasionally resulting in a sometimes controversial defeat of Presidential nominees.

The following list consists of past Supreme Court Justices since 1789 placed in the order in which they took the judicial oath of office.

This list may not yet be complete

• James Wilson (October 5, 1789)
• John Jay (October 19, 1789)
• William Cushing[?] (February 2, 1790)
• John Blair[?] (February 2, 1790)
• John Rutledge (February 15, 1790)
• James Iredell[?] (May 12, 1790)
• Thomas Johnson[?] (August 6, 1792)
• William Paterson[?] (March 11, 1793)
• Samuel Chase (February 4, 1796)
• Oliver Ellsworth[?] (March 8, 1796)
• Bushrod Washington[?] (February 4, 1799)
• Alfred Moore[?] (April 21, 1800)
• John Marshall (February 4, 1801)
• William Johnson (May 7, 1804)
• Henry Brockholst Livingston[?] (January 20, 1807)
• Thomas Todd[?] (May 4, 1807)
• Gabriel Duvall[?] (November 23, 1811)
• Joseph Story[?] (February 3, 1812)
• Smith Thompson[?] (December 9, 1823)
• Robert Trimble[?] (June 16, 1826)
• John McLean[?] (January 11, 1830)
• Henry Baldwin[?] (January 18, 1830)
• James Moore Wayne[?] (January 14, 1835)
• Roger B. Taney (March 28, 1836)
• Philip Pendleton Barbour[?] (May 12, 1836)
• John Catron[?] (May 1, 1837)
• John McKinley[?] (January 9, 1838)
• Peter Vivian Daniel[?] (January 10, 1842)
• Samuel Nelson[?] (February 27, 1845)
• Levi Woodbury[?] (September 23, 1845)
• Robert Cooper Grier[?] (August 10, 1846)
• Benjamin Robbins Curtis[?] (October 10, 1851)
• John Archibald Campbell[?] (April 11, 1853)
• Nathan Clifford[?] (January 21, 1858)
• Noah Haynes Swayne[?] (January 27, 1862)
• Samuel F. Miller[?] (July 21, 1862)
• David Davis[?] (December 10, 1862)
• Stephen Johnson Field[?] (March 10, 1863)
• Salmon P. Chase (December 15, 1864)
• William Strong[?] (March 14, 1870)
• Joseph P. Bradley[?] (March 23, 1870)
• Ward Hunt[?] (January 9, 1873)
• Morrison R. Waite[?] (March 4, 1874)
• John Marshall Harlan[?] (December 10, 1877)
• William Burnham Woods[?] (January 5, 1881)
• Stanley Matthews[?] (May 17, 1881)
• Horace Gray[?] (January 9, 1882)
• Samuel Blatchford[?] (April 3, 1882)
• Melville W. Fuller[?] (October 8, 1888)
• David Josiah Brewer[?] (January 6, 1890)
• Henry Billings Brown (January 5, 1891)
• George Shiras, Jr.[?] (October 10, 1892)
• Howell Edmunds Jackson[?] (March 14, 1893)
• Edward D. White[?] (March 12, 1894)
• Rufus Wheeler Peckham[?] (January 6, 1896)
• Joseph McKenna[?] (January 26, 1898)
• Oliver Wendell Holmes (December 8, 1902)
• William Rufus Day[?] (March 2, 1903)
• William Henry Moody[?] (December 17, 1906)
• Horace Harmon Lurton[?] (January 3, 1910)
• Charles E. Hughes (October 10, 1910)
• Willis Van Devanter[?] (January 3, 1911)
• Joseph Rucker Lamar[?] (January 3, 1911)
• Mahlon Pitney[?] (March 18, 1912)
• James Clark McReynolds[?] (October 12, 1914)
• Louis D. Brandeis (June 5, 1916)
• John Hessin Clarke[?](October 9, 1916)
• William H. Taft (July 11, 1921)
• George Sutherland[?] (October 2, 1922)
• Pierce Butler[?] (January 2, 1923)
• Edward Terry Sanford[?] (February 19, 1923)
• Harlan F. Stone[?] (March 2, 1925)
• Owen Josephus Roberts[?] (June 2, 1930)
• Benjamin N. Cardozo[?] (March 14, 1932)
• Hugo Black (August 19, 1937)
• Stanley Forman Reed[?] (January 31, 1938)
• Felix Frankfurter[?] (January 30, 1939)
• William O. Douglas[?] (April 17, 1939)
• Frank Murphy[?] (February 5, 1940)
• James Francis Byrnes[?] (July 8, 1941)
• Robert H. Jackson (July 11, 1941)
• Wiley Blount Rutledge[?] (February 15, 1943)
• Harold Hitz Burton[?] (October 1, 1945)
• Fred M. Vinson[?] (June 24, 1946)
• Tom C. Clark (August 24, 1949)
• Sherman Minton (October 12, 1949)
• Earl Warren (October 5, 1953)
• John Marshall Harlan II[?] (March 28, 1955)
• William J. Brennan[?] (October 16, 1956)
• Charles Evans Whittaker[?] (March 25, 1957)
• Potter Stewart[?] (October 14, 1958)
• Byron White (April 16, 1962)
• Arthur Joseph Goldberg[?] (October 1, 1962)
• Abe Fortas (October 4, 1965)
• Thurgood Marshall (October 2, 1967)
• Warren E. Burger[?] (June 23, 1969)
• Harry Blackmun[?] (June 9, 1970)
• Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr.[?] (January 7, 1972)