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How Many Supreme Court Justices Are There

The Supreme Court1 of the USA is the ultimate court in the country which has appellate jurisdiction over other courts. Congress sets the number of justices of the Supreme Court, and in different periods of US history there were from five to ten members of it.

Since 1869, there have always been nine Supreme Court Justices. One of them is the Chief Justice, and the other eight are the Associate Justices. The number of the Supreme Court Justices is odd on purpose. This allows them to avoid ties, and all their decisions are final.

The following table will give you information about how many justices were in the Supreme Court earlier, and what acts adjusted their number.

Act
Year
Number of Justices
Judiciary Act
1879
6
Judiciary Act
1801
5
Repeal Act
1802
6
Seventh Circuit Act
1807
7
Judiciary Act
1837
9
Tenth Circuit Act
1863
10
Judicial Circuit Act
1866
7
Habeas Corpus Act
1867
8
Judiciary Act
1869
9


In 1937, President Franklin Roosevelt tried to increase the number of justices. He wanted to add several his supporters to the Supreme Court. This move would have helped him to pursue his New Deal2 policies, if Congress had agreed to it. But it had not worked out, and the number of the Supreme Court Justices remained the same. It has gone down in history as the “Court Packing Plan”.

Currently, the US Supreme Court Justices are as follows: John Roberts (the Chief Justice), Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan. The chart below gives you some information about them.

Name
Date of Birth
Appointed by
First Day
Previous Position
John Roberts
January 27, 1955
George W. Bush
September 29, 2005
Circuit Judge in the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
Antonin Scalia
March 11, 1936
Ronald Reagan
September 26, 1986
Circuit Judge in the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
Anthony Kennedy
July 23, 1936
Ronald Reagan
February 18, 1988
Circuit Judge in the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Clarence Thomas
June 23, 1948
George W. Bush
October 23, 1991
Circuit Judge in the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
March 15, 1933
Bill Clinton
August 10, 1993
Circuit Judge in the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
Stephen Breyer
August 15, 1938
Bill Clinton
August 3, 1994
Chief Judge in the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
Samuel Alito
April 1, 1950
George W. Bush
January 31, 2006
Circuit Judge in the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Sonia Sotomayor
June 25, 1954
Barack Obama
August 8, 2009
Circuit Judge in the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Elena Kagan
April 28, 1960
Barack Obama
August 7, 2010
Solicitor General of the USA


The process of becoming one of the Supreme Court Judges is very complicated. First, the US President nominates a candidate. Then the Judiciary Committee of the USA holds a hearing of his/her case and the judge has to undergo it. Finally, he must receive a majority vote from the full Senate. As a rule, presidents nominate judges who share their political views.
  1. The US Supreme Court (sometimes called SCOTUS) is the highest US court, which consists of nine judges. It meets in the US Supreme Court Building, located in Washington, D.C.
  2. The New Deal was President Roosevelt’s economic program implemented in 1933. It was meant to overcome the Great Depression. Its policies were focused on three R’s: Recovery, Relief, and Reform.
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