John G. Roberts Jr.

John G. Roberts Jr. was born on January 27, 1955, in Buffalo, New York, the second of four children. His father, John (Jack) G. Roberts Sr., was an executive with Bethlehem Steel Corporation, and his mother was Rosemary Roberts (née Podrasky). In the early 1960s his father was promoted to a new steel plant in IndianaIndianaIndiana is a state in the Midwestern United States; its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. It was admitted to the Union on December 11, 1816, as the 19th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 6,785,528.Open the full entry, and the family settled in Long Beach, Indiana.⁠[1][2]

He received an A.B. from Harvard College of Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private research university in Massachusetts, established by the Massachusetts Bay Colony legislature in 1636 and named in 1639 for early benefactor John Harvard. Its principal campuses are in Cambridge and the Allston and Longwood neighborhoods of Boston. It includes Harvard College, graduate and professional schools, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Two governing boards share oversight. Alan M. Garber was president as of October 2026, and the endowment stood at $56.9 billion at the end of fiscal 2025.Open the full entry in 1976 and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1979.⁠[3][2]

From 1979 to 1980 he was a law clerk to Judge Henry J. Friendly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and from 1980 to 1981 a law clerk to William H. Rehnquist, then an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.⁠[3][2]

From 1981 to 1982 he was Special Assistant to the Attorney General of the United States, and from 1982 to 1986 he served in the White House Counsel’s Office as Associate Counsel to President Ronald ReaganRonald ReaganRonald Reagan (1911–2004) was an American politician and actor who worked as a radio sports announcer and film actor before serving as governor of California from 1967 to 1975 and as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989.Open the full entry.⁠[3][2]

From 1986 to 1989 he practiced law privately in Washington, D.C., and from 1989 to 1993 he was Principal Deputy Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice.⁠[3][2]

On January 27, 1992, he was first nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; the Senate did not vote on the nomination.⁠[3]

From 1993 to 2003 he again practiced law privately in Washington, D.C. During this period he was nominated to the D.C. Circuit twice more, on May 9 and September 4, 2001; the Senate voted on neither nomination.⁠[3]

On January 7, 2003, President George W. BushGeorge W. BushGeorge W. Bush (born 1946) is an American politician and Republican who worked in the energy business and was a part owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team before becoming the 46th governor of Texas in 1995 and serving as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009.Open the full entry nominated him to the seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated by James L. Buckley. The Senate confirmed him on May 8, and his commission was issued on June 2, 2003.⁠[3]

On July 29, 2005, George W. Bush nominated him to the Supreme Court of the United States; on September 6 the president withdrew that nomination and on the same day nominated him instead to succeed William H. Rehnquist as Chief Justice.⁠[3]

On September 29, 2005, the Senate confirmed his nomination as Chief Justice of the United States by a vote of 78 to 22 (Rollcall Vote No. 245), and his commission was issued the same day.⁠[4][3]

The same day he took the Judicial Oath in a private ceremony in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House and then the Constitutional Oath in a televised ceremony in the East Room, both administered by Senior Associate Justice John Paul Stevens. At his investiture in the Courtroom on October 3, Stevens administered the Judicial Oath again, with President George W. Bush in attendance.⁠[5]

Since 2005 he has chaired the board of the Federal Judicial Center, and since 2006 he has been the presiding officer of the Judicial Conference of the United States.⁠[3]

He administered oaths to a number of new justices: both the Constitutional and Judicial Oaths to Samuel A. Alito Jr. on January 31, 2006, to Sonia Sotomayor on August 8, 2009, and to Elena Kagan on August 7, 2010; the Constitutional Oath to Neil M. Gorsuch on April 10, 2017, to Brett KavanaughBrett KavanaughBrett Kavanaugh (born 1965) is an American judge who served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 2006 to 2018 and has been an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since 2018.Open the full entry on October 6, 2018, and to Ketanji Brown Jackson on June 30, 2022; and the Judicial Oath to Amy Coney Barrett on October 27, 2020.⁠[5]

Under the rule that the Chief Justice of the United States presides over presidential impeachment trials, he was sworn in on January 16, 2020, to preside over the Senate’s impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, and then administered the oath to the full Senate, requiring senators to act as jurors with “impartial justice.” The Senate took final action on February 5, 2020, with a verdict of not guilty.⁠[6][7]

As of November 2026, he continues to serve as Chief Justice of the United States.⁠[2][1]

He married Jane Sullivan in 1996; they have two children, Josephine and Jack.⁠[2]

Supreme Court of the United States (current members): Web page: https://supremecourt.gov/about/biographies.aspx (opens in a new window).⁠[2]

Federal Judicial Center (judicial biography of John G. Roberts Jr.): Web page: https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/roberts-john-glover-jr (opens in a new window).⁠[3]