Supreme Court Justices By Year

Supreme court justices members over time from 1857 to 2015 this first chart shows the make up of the supreme court from 1857 to the present color coded for party appointment.

Supreme court justices by year - The 1st united states congress provided the detailed organization of a federal judiciary through the judiciary act of 1789. The supreme court the country s highest judicial tribunal was to sit in the nation s capital and would initially be composed of a chief justice and five associate justices. So it was not that lincoln refused to nominate a supreme court justice mclauglin wrote. Douglas s 36 years 211 days to the 163 day tenure of thomas johnson as of october 10 2020 the length of service for the eight incumbent justices ranges from clarence thomas 28 years 353 days to.

The act also divided the country into judicial districts which were in turn organized into circuits. Take congress s beef with president andrew johnson. Since 1869 the year congress increased the number of justices to nine 12 of the 24 presidents preceding obama successfully chose at least three members of the supreme court. The senate s schedule and practical politics in the midst of the carnage of the civil war dictated lincoln s action.

No kamala abe lincoln did not refuse to nominate a supreme court justice in an election year. Constitution grants congress the power to determine how many justices sit on scotus. And the number of justices on the supreme court has been politically manipulated over the years. For the 105 non incumbent justices the average length of service was 6 203 days 16 years 359 days.

The most recent president to get three justices on the high court was ronald reagan from 1981 through 1988. The supreme court of the united states is the highest ranking judicial body in the united states established by article iii of the constitution the court was organized by the 1st united states congress through the judiciary act of 1789 which specified its original and appellate jurisdiction created 13 judicial districts and fixed the size of the supreme court at six with one chief justice. This number has ranged between 5 and 10 but since 1869 the number has been set at 9. The united states supreme court is the highest federal court of the united states established pursuant to article three of the united states constitution in 1789 it has ultimate and largely discretionary appellate jurisdiction over all federal courts and state court cases involving issues of federal law plus original jurisdiction over a small range of cases.

According to senate and supreme court records there have been only 16 vacancies of a supreme court seat including ginsburg s that happened before election day during an election year. Since the supreme court was established in 1789 114 people have served on the court.