Supreme Court Facts

Updated February 21, 2017 | Factmonster Staff
  • Youngest justice appointed: Joseph Story (age 32)
  • Oldest justice appointed: Horace Lurton (age 65)
  • Oldest justice to serve: Oliver Wendell Holmes (retired at age 90)
  • Shortest term as chief justice: John Rutledge (4 months, 3 days chief justice)
  • Shortest time in the court: Thomas Johnson (5 months, 10 days associate justice)
  • Longest term: William O. Douglas (36 years, 209 days)
  • First Catholic justice: Roger B. Taney
  • First Jewish justice: Louis Brandeis
  • First African-American justice: Thurgood Marshall
  • First woman justice: Sandra Day O'Connor
  • President to appoint the most justices: George Washington (11)
  • President to appoint the most justices in the 20th century: Franklin Roosevelt (9)
  • Presidents to appoint current justices: Ford (Stevens); Reagan (Scalia, Kennedy); G.H.W. Bush (Souter, Thomas); Clinton (Ginsburg, Breyer); G. W. Bush (Roberts, Alito)
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