Three Black justices have served on the United States Supreme Court in its entire history: Thurgood Marshall, Clarence Thomas, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Out of 116 people who have held a seat on the Court since 1790, those three appointments span more than half a century, with long stretches between each one.1Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. Supreme Court Justices
Thurgood Marshall, the First
President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Thurgood Marshall on June 13, 1967, and the Senate confirmed him 69 to 11.2The American Presidency Project. Remarks to the Press Announcing the Nomination of Thurgood Marshall as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court He served for 24 years before retiring in 1991.
Marshall arrived at the Court with an unusual résumé. He graduated first in his class from Howard University School of Law in 1933 and spent more than two decades as chief counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, arguing 32 cases before the Supreme Court and winning 29. His most consequential victory was Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which declared segregated public schools unconstitutional.3United States Courts. Justice Thurgood Marshall Profile – Brown v. Board of Education Re-enactment President John F. Kennedy appointed him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1961, and in 1965 Johnson made him the first Black Solicitor General.2The American Presidency Project. Remarks to the Press Announcing the Nomination of Thurgood Marshall as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
On the bench, Marshall consistently opposed racial and sex-based discrimination, opposed the death penalty, and defended the rights of criminal defendants. He died two years after retiring.
Clarence Thomas, the Second
President George H.W. Bush nominated Clarence Thomas to fill Marshall’s seat in 1991. Thomas took his seat on October 23 of that year after one of the most contentious confirmation battles in Senate history, passing 52 to 48.4Library of Congress. PN456 – Nomination of Clarence Thomas for Supreme Court of the United States, 102nd Congress (1991-1992)
Thomas grew up in Pin Point, Georgia, earned his undergraduate degree cum laude from the College of the Holy Cross in 1971, and graduated from Yale Law School in 1974.5Supreme Court of the United States. Justices He chaired the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 1982 to 1990, the federal agency that enforces workplace anti-discrimination laws.6U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Clarence Thomas Bush then appointed him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, where he served briefly before the Supreme Court nomination.
Thomas is the most prominent originalist on the modern Court, generally arguing that constitutional provisions should be read according to what the words meant when they were written. As of 2026, he has served more than 34 years, making him the fifth-longest-serving justice in the Court’s history and the most senior member of the current bench.5Supreme Court of the United States. Justices
Ketanji Brown Jackson, the Third
President Joe Biden nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson on February 25, 2022, to fill the seat of retiring Justice Stephen Breyer.7The American Presidency Project. Remarks on the Nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson To Be a United States Supreme Court Associate Justice The Senate confirmed her 53 to 47, making her the first Black woman on the Court.8United States Senate. Roll Call Vote 117th Congress – 2nd Session
Jackson earned her undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Harvard-Radcliffe College in 1992 and her law degree cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1996.5Supreme Court of the United States. Justices She clerked for Justice Breyer on the Supreme Court in 1999, so her appointment to his seat carried a full-circle quality.
Jackson also brought a background no other sitting justice shares: she worked as a federal public defender in Washington, D.C., from 2005 to 2007, representing defendants who could not afford private attorneys. She served twice on the U.S. Sentencing Commission and sat as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and then the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit before her Supreme Court nomination.9Library of Congress Blogs. President Biden Nominates Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the United States Supreme Court
How Rare These Appointments Have Been
The Supreme Court operated for 178 years before seating a Black justice. Twenty-four years passed between Marshall’s appointment and Thomas’s, and another 31 years passed before Jackson was confirmed. Three of the Court’s 116 justices have been Black, roughly 2.6 percent of all appointments.1Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. Supreme Court Justices
Two of the three currently serve together. Thomas and Jackson sit on the same bench but reached it from opposite sides of the legal system: Thomas from government enforcement at the EEOC, Jackson from the federal defender’s office.