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A total of 41 justices (10 Chief Justices and 31 Associate Justices) of the 112 seated (36.6%) had no judicial experience before joining the US Supreme Court.
The following list includes only US Supreme Court justices who were NEVER judges prior to being nominated to the US Supreme Court. The occupation listed is the last position held before nomination.
Please note that most justices held other, often multiple, positions in politics earlier in their careers. Many of the justices whose occupation at nomination is listed as "lawyer" had temporarily returned to private practice because the opposing party was in office and there were no government opportunities available to them until the administration changed.
Chief Justices
John Jay..........................(1789 - 1798)....Washington.............Envoy, Ambassador
John Marshall...................(1801 - 1835)....Adams....................Secretary of State
Roger Taney.....................(1836 - 1864)....Jackson..................Secretary of the Treasury
Salmon Chase..................(1864 - 1873)....Lincoln....................Secretary of the Treasury
Morrison Waite.................(1873 - 1888)....Grant......................Pres, OH Constitutional Convention
Melville Fuller...................(1888 - 1910).....Cleveland...............Lawyer
Charles Hughes................(1930 - 1941).....Hoover...................US delegate, Perm Court of Arbitration (The Hague)
Harlan Stone....................(1941 - 1946).....Roosevelt, F...........Associate Justice, US Supreme Court
Earl Warren......................(1953 - 1969)....Eisenhower.............Governor, California
William H. Rehnquist.........(1986 - 2005)....Reagan..................Associate Justice, US Supreme Court
Associate Justices
James Wilson...................(1789 - 1798)....Washington............Member, Continental Congress
Bushrod Washington.........(1799 - 1829).....Adams..................Lawyer
Joseph Story....................(1812 - 1845).....Madison................Speaker, MA Lower House
Henry Baldwin..................(1830 - 1844).....Jackson................Lawyer
John McKinley..................(1838 - 1852).....Van Buren.............House of Representatives
Benjamin Curtis...............(1851 - 1857)......Fillmore...............MA State Legislature
John Campbell.................(1853 - 1861)......Pierce..................Lawyer
Nathan Clifford.................(1858 - 1881).....Buchanan.............Lawyer
Noah Swayne...................(1862 - 1881).....Lincoln.................Lawyer
Samuel Miller...................(1862 - 1890)......Lincoln.................Lawyer
Joseph Bradley.................(1870 - 1892)......Grant..................Lawyer
Lucius Lamar....................(1888 - 1893).....Cleveland.............Secretary of the Interior
George Shiras, Jr..............(1892 - 1903)......Harrison..............Lawyer
William Henry Moody.........(1906 - 1910).....Roosevelt, T..........US Attorney General
James McReynolds............(1914 - 1941).....Wilson..................US Attorney General
Louis Brandeis..................(1916 - 1939).....Wilson.................Lawyer
George Sutherland............(1922 - 1938).....Harding...............US Consul at The Hague
Pierce Butler.....................(1923 - 1939).....Harding...............Regent, University of Minnesota
Owen Roberts...................(1930 - 1945).....Hoover.................Special US Attorney
Stanley Forman Reed.........(1938 - 1945).....Roosevelt, F.........Solicitor General
Felix Frankfurter................(1939 - 1962).....Roosevelt, F..........Law Professor, Harvard
William O. Douglas............(1939 - 1974).....Roosevelt, F..........Chairman of SEC
James Francis Byrnes.........(1941 - 1942).....Roosevelt, F..........Senator
Robert H. Jackson.............(1941 - 1954).....Roosevelt, F..........US Attorney General
Harold Hitz Burton.............(1945 - 1958).....Truman................Senator
Tom C. Clark.....................(1949 - 1967).....Truman................US Attorney General
Byron White......................(1962 - 1993).....Kennedy..............Deputy Attorney General
Arthur J. Goldberg.............(1962 - 1965).....Kennedy...............Secretary of Labor
Abe Fortas........................(1965 - 1969).....Johnson...............Lawyer
Lewis F. Powell..................(1972 - 1987)......Nixon..................Lawyer
Elena Kagan......................(2010 - Pres)......Obama.................US Solicitor General
All of the members of the current 2010 Court staff had judicial experience on the US Courts of Appeals Circuit Courts prior to being elevated to the US Supreme Court.
For more information, see Related Questions, below.
All of the members of the current Court, with the exception of the 112th Justice, Elena Kagan, had judicial experience on the US Courts of Appeals Circuit Courts prior to being elevated to the US Supreme Court.
For more information, see Related Questions, below.
There are no set rules for qualification. Although every past justice has been a lawyer, 41 of the 109 justices had no prior judicial experience.
Summary from here.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1007/p01s03-usju.html
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Why are US Supreme Court justices called justices and not judges?
Because then people know right away the difference. Justices=Supreme Court. Judges=Normal Courts acting under the Supreme Court.
What occupation are justices?
Justice are judges. All current and former justices on the US Supreme Court began their careers as lawyers.
How many judges are there on the US Supreme Court and what are they called?
Federal (US) Supreme Court judges are called "justices." The Supreme Court of the United States has one Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices, for a total of nine justices. State supreme court vary in the number of judges seated on their highest appellate court, and are also inconsistent with titles. Some states call them "judges," while others refer to them as "justices."
What are the Michigan supreme court justices?
They are the Judges that serve on the Michigan Supreme Court, the highest Court in Michigan. There are seven Justices.
Does the US Supreme Court have one Chief Justice and eight judges?
Close. The US Supreme Court seats one Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. All US Supreme Court judges are referred to as "justices."
What level of the federal court system are the judges called justices?
Federal judges on the US Supreme Court are called justices.
Who nominates judges to supreme court?
The President appoints Justices (they aren't called judges, if you wish to be precise) for the Supreme Court.
How many judges consist of supreme court?
There are many different supreme courts - one of the US and one for each of the States. They have different numbers of judges, depending on the Constitution of each state. There are eight judges on the US Supreme Court (Nine seats for judges).
What is a judge that sits on Supreme Court bench called?
Judges on the Supreme Court are known as justices.
How are the people in the supreme court different from other courts and people?
Higher level...the supreme court judges are "justices" other judges are just "judges"
How many justices judges are there on the US Supreme Court?
Nine of them.
How many judges are currently on the U.S. Supreme Court?
There are nine (9) justices on the US Supreme Court.
