The 9 Justices of the Supreme Court are Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and associate justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr., Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. The number is nine because Congress fixed it there by statute in 1869, and federal law has kept it there ever since: one Chief Justice and eight associate justices, with six needed for a quorum.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1 – Number of Justices; Quorum The Constitution itself never picks a number. It creates “one supreme Court” and leaves the rest to Congress.
The Current Nine Justices
Seniority on the Supreme Court is set by date of commission, and it governs everything from seating at oral arguments to speaking order in the justices’ private conference. Listed in that order:
- Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed in September 2005. He came from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
- Clarence Thomas, the longest-serving current justice, appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991. He had chaired the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
- Samuel A. Alito Jr., nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed in January 2006, following years as a federal prosecutor and a judge on the Third Circuit.
- Sonia Sotomayor, appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009 and the first Hispanic justice in the court’s history. She had served as both a trial and appellate judge in New York.
- Elena Kagan, nominated by President Obama and confirmed in 2010. She arrived from the roles of U.S. Solicitor General and dean of Harvard Law School.
- Neil M. Gorsuch, nominated by President Donald Trump in 2017. He came from the Tenth Circuit.
- Brett M. Kavanaugh, nominated by President Trump and confirmed in October 2018. He had served on the D.C. Circuit and worked in the White House during the George W. Bush administration.
- Amy Coney Barrett, nominated by President Trump and confirmed in October 2020. She came from the Seventh Circuit and had spent years teaching law at the University of Notre Dame.
- Ketanji Brown Jackson, the newest justice, nominated by President Joe Biden and confirmed in April 2022. She is the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court and had worked as a federal public defender and a district court judge.
Why There Are Nine
When Congress first organized the federal courts in 1789, the Supreme Court started with six members. Over the next eight decades Congress adjusted the number six times, dropping it as low as five and pushing it as high as ten, usually to match the expanding number of federal judicial circuits.3United States Courts. About the Supreme Court In 1869, Congress fixed the court at nine, one justice for each of the judicial circuits established a few years earlier.4Supreme Court of the United States. The Court as an Institution That number is now codified at 28 U.S.C. § 1.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1 – Number of Justices; Quorum
The most famous attempt to change that number came in 1937, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed adding up to six justices after the court struck down several of his New Deal programs. Roosevelt wanted to appoint enough sympathetic justices to shift the ideological balance. The plan drew fierce criticism from both parties and never passed Congress, costing Roosevelt significant political capital.5Federal Judicial Center. FDR’s Court-Packing Plan Proposals to expand or shrink the bench have surfaced occasionally since then. None has become law.
How Someone Becomes a Justice
Article II of the Constitution gives the president the power to nominate Supreme Court justices, subject to Senate confirmation.6Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Article II Section 2 The Constitution sets no requirements for the job. No minimum age, no citizenship requirement, and technically no requirement that the nominee be a lawyer. Every justice in the court’s history has had legal training, but that is tradition, not law.
After the president submits a nomination, the Senate Judiciary Committee holds public hearings on the nominee’s judicial philosophy, past rulings, and professional background. The committee then votes on whether to send the nomination to the full Senate. Since 2017, the Senate has been able to confirm a Supreme Court nominee by a simple majority vote. Before that year, opponents could filibuster a nomination, effectively requiring 60 votes. The Senate changed that rule during the confirmation of Justice Gorsuch.7Congress.gov. Supreme Court Nominations, 1789 to 2022 – Actions by the Senate
Once confirmed, the president signs a commission and the new justice takes two oaths: a constitutional oath required of all federal officeholders and a separate judicial oath specific to judges.8Supreme Court of the United States. Supreme Court Oaths History and Traditions The judicial oath, prescribed by 28 U.S.C. § 453, pledges the justice to “administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich.”9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 453 – Oaths of Justices and Judges
Life Tenure, Retirement, and Vacancies
Article III provides that federal judges “shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour,” which in practice means a lifetime appointment.10Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Article III The framers designed the arrangement to insulate judges from political pressure. No justice has to worry about reelection or contract renewal. The tradeoff is that justices sometimes serve into their eighties or nineties, and the only way to remove one involuntarily is through impeachment by the House and conviction by the Senate.
Most vacancies open the mundane way: a justice retires. Federal law sets eligibility for retirement based on age and years of service combined. A justice who is at least 65 with 15 years of service can retire at full salary. The requirement loosens as age increases: at 66, a justice needs only 14 years, and so on, down to a minimum of 10 years at age 70.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 371 – Retirement on Salary; Retirement in Senior Status The formula is sometimes called the “Rule of 80” because earlier versions required age plus years of service to total at least 80.
When a seat opens for any reason, the statutory count remains nine, so the president nominates a replacement and the confirmation process begins again. The court can continue to hear cases with fewer than nine members as long as it has at least six, though an even-numbered bench raises the possibility of tie votes that leave the lower court’s ruling in place without setting national precedent.
Pay and Ethics
As of 2026, the Chief Justice earns $320,700 per year and each associate justice earns $306,600.12Federal Judicial Center. Judicial Salaries – Supreme Court Justices Justices also file annual financial disclosure reports under the Ethics in Government Act, available to the public through the federal judiciary’s online database.13United States Courts. Judiciary Financial Disclosure Reports
For most of the court’s history, the justices were not bound by any formal code of conduct. That changed on November 13, 2023, when the court adopted its own Code of Conduct built around five principles: upholding judicial integrity and independence, avoiding even the appearance of impropriety, performing duties fairly and impartially, limiting outside activities to those consistent with the judicial role, and refraining from political activity.14Supreme Court of the United States. Code of Conduct for Justices of the Supreme Court Critics have noted that the code relies on self-policing and has no independent enforcement mechanism.
Separate from that code, federal law requires any justice to step aside from a case when their impartiality could reasonably be questioned. Under 28 U.S.C. § 455, grounds for disqualification include personal bias toward a party, having worked on the matter as a lawyer before joining the bench, holding a financial interest in the outcome, or having a close family connection to a party or lawyer in the case.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 455 – Disqualification of Justice, Judge, or Magistrate Judge Unlike lower court judges, no one can compel a Supreme Court justice to recuse. Each justice makes that call individually, with no appeal.