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List of United States Supreme Court justices by time in office
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A total of 116 people have served on the Supreme Court of the United States, the highest judicial body in the United States, since it was established in 1789. Supreme Court justices have life tenure, meaning that they serve until they die, resign, retire, or are impeached and removed from office. For the 107 non-incumbent justices, the average length of service was 6,203 days (16 years, 359 days).[1][A] The longest serving justice was William O. Douglas, with a tenure of 13,358 days (36 years, 209 days). The longest serving chief justice was John Marshall, with a tenure of 12,570 days (34 years, 152 days). John Rutledge, who served on the court twice, was both the shortest serving associate justice, with a tenure of 383 days (1 year, 18 days), and the shortest serving chief justice, with a tenure of 138 days (4 months 16 days). Among the current members of the court, Clarence Thomas's tenure of 12,257 days (33 years, 203 days)[B] is the longest, while Ketanji Brown Jackson's 1,049 days (2 years, 318 days)[B] is the shortest.
Longest Supreme Court tenure | |
Chief justice |
Associate justice |
 12,570 days (1801–1835) |
 13,358 days (1939–1975) |
The table below ranks all United States Supreme Court justices by time in office.[C] For five individuals confirmed for associate justice, and who later served as chief justice—Charles Evans Hughes, William Rehnquist, John Rutledge, Harlan F. Stone, and Edward Douglass White—their cumulative length of service on the court is measured. The basis of the ranking is the difference between dates; if counted by number of calendar days all the figures would be one greater, with the exception of Charles Evans Hughes and John Rutledge, who would receive two days, as each served on the court twice (their service as associate justice and as chief justice was separated by a period of years off the court). The start date given for each justice is the day they took the prescribed oath of office, with the end date being the date of the justice's death, resignation, or retirement. A highlighted row indicates a justice currently serving on the court.
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Justices by time in office
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Notes
- Average tenure in office has increased significantly over the past half-century. In 1970, the average tenure in office (for the 89 justices who had left the Court prior to 1970) was about fifteen years.[2]
- A nominee who was confirmed by the United States Senate but declined to serve, such as Robert H. Harrison, or who died after being confirmed but before taking the necessary steps toward becoming a member of the court, such as Edwin Stanton, is not considered to have served as a justice, and thus not included on this list.[3]
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References
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