Supreme Court of the United States

The Constitution did not spell out the Court’s exact powers or how the judicial branch would be organized; the federal judiciary was developed by Congress and by the Justices through their decisions. The Judiciary Act, the first bill introduced in the Senate, was approved by George WashingtonGeorge WashingtonGeorge Washington (1732–1799) was the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. Earlier he commanded the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and presided over the Constitutional Convention of 1787.Open the full entry on September 24, 1789, and also signed by Speaker of the House Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg and by Vice President and President of the Senate John AdamsJohn AdamsJohn Adams (1735–1826) was the first vice president (1789–1797) and the second president (1797–1801) of the United States. Earlier he served in the Continental Congress, was a signer of the Treaty of Paris and became the first American minister to Great Britain.Open the full entry.⁠[1][2]

The act provided that the Supreme Court would consist of a chief justice and five associate justices, divided the country into 13 judicial districts organized into three circuits, Eastern, Middle and Southern, and created the office of Attorney General to prosecute and conduct suits in the Supreme Court involving the United States and to advise the President on questions of law.⁠[2][1]

The Court was to assemble for the first time on February 1, 1790, in the Exchange Building in New York City, then the nation’s capital; transportation problems delayed the opening to the next day, February 2. George Washington appointed all six original Justices and four more by the end of his second term.⁠[1]

After the capital moved to Philadelphia in 1790, the Court sat first in the State House (Independence Hall) and later in City Hall, and delivered its first opinion on August 3, 1791, in West v. Barnes. In 1793 Congress reduced the number of Justices required to ride circuit from two to one.⁠[3][1][4]

John JayJohn JayJohn Jay (1745–1829) was an American Founding Father, lawyer and diplomat who presided over the Continental Congress, served as secretary of foreign affairs under the Articles of Confederation, helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War, became the first Chief Justice of the United States and later served as governor of New York.Open the full entry resigned in 1795 to become Governor of New York and declined reappointment as Chief Justice in 1800. John Rutledge was appointed Chief Justice under an interim commission during a congressional recess in 1795 and served 5 months and 14 days; the Senate did not confirm him, but he is regarded as an incumbent of the office.⁠[1]

After the capital moved to Washington in 1800, the Court sat in the Capitol. Shortly before Thomas JeffersonThomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson (1743–1826) was the author of the Declaration of Independence and the third president of the United States, serving from 1801 to 1809. He had earlier been governor of Virginia, minister to France, secretary of state and vice president.Open the full entry succeeded him, John Adams appointed John MarshallJohn MarshallJohn Marshall (1755–1835) was an American statesman and jurist who served as a U.S. Representative and Secretary of State and, from 1801 to 1835, as Chief Justice of the United States, establishing the principle of judicial review in Marbury v. Madison.Open the full entry the fourth Chief Justice; Marshall served 34 years and five months, and his leadership was central to the Court’s prominent role in American government.⁠[3][1]

The Judiciary Act of 1801 created separate circuit judgeships and relieved the Justices of circuit duty without changing the number of seats; in 1802 Congress again assigned the Justices to the circuit courts.⁠[4]

In 1801 the outgoing President John Adams commissioned William Marbury as a justice of the peace; Secretary of State James MadisonJames MadisonJames Madison (1751–1836) was the fourth president of the United States, serving from 1809 to 1817. He helped frame the Constitution, co-wrote The Federalist and guided the Bill of Rights through Congress, and earlier served as a U.S. representative and secretary of state.Open the full entry refused to deliver the commission, and Marbury sued. In 1803 Chief Justice John Marshall established the principle of judicial review, under which courts may examine the constitutionality of acts of the other branches; for the first time the Court declared unconstitutional a law passed by Congress and signed by the President, the Judiciary Act’s grant of authority to issue writs of mandamus to officers such as the Secretary of State. The opinion states, “A Law repugnant to the Constitution is void.”⁠[5]

The National Archives and Records AdministrationNational Archives and Records AdministrationThe National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government whose mission is to provide public access to the federal government records in its custody and control. It was established in 1934 and has borne its present name since 1985.Open the full entry notes that no other federal law was struck down until the Dred Scott decision in 1857.⁠[5]

A seventh seat was added in 1807 and an eighth and ninth in 1837. In 1863 Congress created a Tenth Circuit on the West Coast and a tenth Justice was appointed, the largest the Court has been. In 1866 Congress reduced the Court to seven seats and barred filling vacancies until the number reached seven, so the number of sitting Justices fell to eight; an act of 1869 provided for nine Justices, one for each circuit established in 1866, and the size has not changed since. The number of Justices changed six times before settling at nine in 1869.⁠[4][1]

Within the Capitol period the Court briefly used a house after the British burned the Capitol in the War of 1812, sat in the Old Supreme Court Chamber from 1819 to 1860 and in the Old Senate Chamber from 1860 to 1935.⁠[3]

The act establishing the circuit courts of appeals in 1891 authorized the Justices to grant review through certiorari and restricted automatic appeals to the Supreme Court; in 1911 Congress abolished the circuit courts, and the Justices’ circuit duty became optional. For the Court’s first 101 years, apart from a brief period in the early 1800s, the Justices held circuit court twice a year in each judicial district.⁠[4][1]

The Federal Judicial Center dates the Judges’ Bill to February 13, 1925; it was so nicknamed because it was proposed by the Justices. Under it, most cases from the circuit courts of appeals and the highest state courts could reach the Supreme Court only if the Justices granted a writ of certiorari on a party’s application, and cases generally could not be appealed directly from the district courts. The Federal Judicial Center judges that the law made the circuit courts of appeals the final authority in most federal cases and the Supreme Court primarily an arbiter of constitutional questions. In 1988 Congress eliminated almost all types of mandatory jurisdiction.⁠[6][4]

In 1929 William Howard TaftWilliam Howard TaftWilliam Howard Taft (1857–1930) was an American lawyer, judge and politician who served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and as the 10th chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930, the only person to have held both offices.Open the full entry, then Chief Justice and President from 1909 to 1913, persuaded Congress to authorize a permanent building for the Court and charged the architect Cass Gilbert with designing it.⁠[3]

Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes laid the cornerstone on October 13, 1932, saying, “The Republic endures and this is the symbol of its faith.” The building was completed in 1935, the Court’s 146th year, when it first occupied a building of its own. Cass Gilbert died before completion, and Cass Gilbert, Jr., and John R. Rockart finished the work under Hughes’s direction.⁠[3]

The building is in the classical Corinthian style to harmonize with the nearby congressional buildings, with VermontVermontVermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States; its capital is Montpelier and its largest city is Burlington. It joined the Union on March 4, 1791, as the 14th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 643,077.Open the full entry marble on the exterior and AlabamaAlabamaAlabama is a U.S. state in the Southeast on the Gulf of Mexico, with its capital at Montgomery. It was admitted to the Union on December 14, 1819, as the 22nd state, and the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted 5,024,279 residents.Open the full entry marble in the corridors and entrance halls. Congress authorized $9,740,000; the project came in under budget, and about $94,000 was returned to the Treasury.⁠[3]

In 1934 Congress gave the Supreme Court responsibility for drafting federal procedural rules; the 1939 law creating the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts had the Court appoint its director, an authority vested in 1990 in the Chief Justice in consultation with the Judicial Conference.⁠[4]

On May 17, 1954, in Brown v. Board of Education, the Court unanimously held that state-mandated school segregation violated the Fourteenth Amendment, overruling the “separate but equal” principle of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896); the opinion, written by Chief Justice Earl Warren, states, “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” On May 31, 1955, in Brown II, the Court directed the states to begin desegregation plans “with all deliberate speed.”⁠[7]

John G. Roberts Jr.John G. Roberts Jr.John G. Roberts Jr. (born 1955) is an American judge who has served since 2005 as the 17th Chief Justice of the United States, heading the Supreme Court of the United States.Open the full entry, nominated by 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, took his seat as Chief Justice on September 29, 2005.⁠[8]

As of November 2026, the Court’s website lists nine sitting members: Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Associate Justices Clarence Thomas (took his seat October 23, 1991), Samuel A. Alito Jr. (nominated by George W. Bush, seated January 31, 2006), Sonia Sotomayor (nominated by Barack Obama on May 26, 2009, seated August 8, 2009), Elena Kagan (nominated by Barack Obama on May 10, 2010, seated August 7, 2010), Neil M. Gorsuch (nominated by Donald Trump, seated April 10, 2017), 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 (nominated by Donald Trump, seated October 6, 2018), Amy Coney Barrett (nominated by Donald Trump, seated October 27, 2020) and Ketanji Brown Jackson (nominated by Joe Biden in 2022).⁠[8]

Justices are appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate and hold office during “good Behaviour,” which generally means for life; their salaries may not be diminished while in office. By the Court’s count there have been 17 Chief Justices and 104 Associate Justices, 116 Justices in all (five Chief Justices having previously served as Associate Justices); Justices have served an average of 16 years, and a new Justice has joined the Court about every two years. Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin D. RooseveltFranklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) was an American politician who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 to 1945, the only president elected four times; he led the country through the Great Depression and World War II and greatly expanded the federal government’s role through the New Deal.Open the full entry appointed eight Justices and elevated Harlan Fiske Stone to Chief Justice.⁠[1]

Supreme Court of the United States: Official website: https://www.supremecourt.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[1]