There are nine justices on the Supreme Court: one Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. Although people often ask how many judges are on the Supreme Court, the members are formally called justices. The number is set by federal statute, not the Constitution, and it has held steady since 1869.
The Nine Current Justices
The Court is made up of one Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. The Chief Justice presides over oral arguments and the Court’s private conferences but carries the same single vote as every other member.
Listed by seniority, the current members are:1Supreme Court of the United States. Current Members
- John G. Roberts, Jr. (Chief Justice), nominated by President George W. Bush, seated September 29, 2005
- Clarence Thomas, nominated by President George H.W. Bush, seated October 23, 1991
- Samuel A. Alito, Jr., nominated by President George W. Bush, seated January 31, 2006
- Sonia Sotomayor, nominated by President Barack Obama, seated August 8, 2009
- Elena Kagan, nominated by President Obama, seated August 7, 2010
- Neil M. Gorsuch, nominated by President Donald J. Trump, seated April 10, 2017
- Brett M. Kavanaugh, nominated by President Trump, seated October 6, 2018
- Amy Coney Barrett, nominated by President Trump, seated October 27, 2020
- Ketanji Brown Jackson, nominated by President Joseph Biden, seated in 2022
Each justice serves for life under the “good Behaviour” clause of Article III, Section 1. A justice leaves the bench only by retirement, death, or impeachment and conviction. Across the Court’s history, 17 people have served as Chief Justice and 104 as Associate Justices.2Supreme Court of the United States. Justices
Why Nine
The Constitution creates the Supreme Court but never fixes its size. Article III, Section 1 vests federal judicial power “in one supreme Court” and leaves the details to Congress.3Congress.gov. Constitution Annotated The number nine comes from ordinary legislation and could be changed with a bill signed by the president.
The current statute is 28 U.S.C. § 1: “The Supreme Court of the United States shall consist of a Chief Justice of the United States and eight associate justices, any six of whom shall constitute a quorum.”4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1 – Number of Justices; Quorum That language dates to the Judiciary Act of 1869 and has not been amended since.
What Happens When Fewer Than Nine Sit
Under the same statute, six justices form a quorum. That matters when a seat is vacant or when a justice recuses over a conflict. With eight participating members, a 4–4 split is possible. When the Court divides evenly, the lower court’s decision stands but no national precedent is set; the case resolves for the parties without a broader ruling.
Between a death or retirement and the confirmation of a replacement, the Court can operate with eight members for months. The quorum rule keeps it functioning as long as at least six justices remain available.
How the Number Has Changed
The Judiciary Act of 1789 set the original Court at six: a Chief Justice and five Associate Justices. For most of the nineteenth century, Congress tied the number of seats to the number of federal judicial circuits, so seats were added as the country grew westward.5Supreme Court of the United States. The Court as an Institution
In 1807, Congress added a seventh justice for the new Seventh Circuit.6Federal Judicial Center. Landmark Legislation – Seventh Circuit In 1837, President Andrew Jackson signed legislation adding two more seats, bringing the Court to nine for the first time.7Library of Congress. The Size of the United States Supreme Court
The Court reached its all-time peak of ten during the Civil War. In 1863, Congress created a Tenth Circuit covering California and Oregon and added a tenth seat, which the Lincoln administration filled with the strong Unionist Stephen J. Field.8Federal Judicial Center. Landmark Legislation – Tenth Circuit
Three years later the politics reversed. The Judicial Circuits Act of 1866 barred filling vacant Associate Justice seats until the number dropped to six associates, or seven members total, shrinking the Court by attrition. Congress passed the law in part to keep President Andrew Johnson from making appointments.9Federal Judicial Center. Landmark Legislation – Circuit Reorganization With a friendlier president in office, Congress reversed course in 1869 and set the number at nine, where it has remained.7Library of Congress. The Size of the United States Supreme Court
FDR’s Court-Packing Attempt
The best-known challenge to the nine-seat tradition came in February 1937, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed expanding the Court to as many as fifteen members. His plan would have let the president appoint one additional justice for every sitting member over seventy who had not retired. Several older justices had been striking down New Deal programs, and the proposal was widely read as an effort to dilute the conservative majority.
The plan collapsed. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes wrote to the Senate Judiciary Committee rebutting Roosevelt’s claim that the Court was overworked, and even the liberal justices opposed the idea. The Court then began upholding New Deal legislation, and one of the conservative justices retired, making the bill look unnecessary. The Senate Judiciary Committee issued a report calling it an affront to judicial independence, and the effort ended after its chief Senate advocate died mid-fight.
Since then, “court-packing” has been used as a criticism of any proposal to change the number of justices for political advantage, and nine has been treated as settled, even though Congress retains the legal power to change it.