All Rise for This Quiz on Supreme Court History

While the number of Supreme Court justices has remained constant for more than a century at nine, Congress does have the ability to change that number. One of the most significant changes happened in 1866, when Congress removed three justices from the court — changing the number from 10 to seven — to limit President Andrew Johnson’s power. Johnson had angered Congress by removing Edwin M. Stanton from his post as secretary of war, which Congress viewed as an abuse of power.

Strategically, each political party tends to nominate younger judges for the Supreme Court to take full advantage of the lifetime appointment with no term limits. This means it’s rare for older judges to be nominated, and no Supreme Court justice has been older at the time of his appointment than Harlan F. Stone, who was 68 years young when nominated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941. He served until his death in 1946.

John Marshall was the longest-serving chief justice, holding his position for 34 years, five months, and 11 days between 1801 and 1835. However, the longest-serving justice overall was William O. Douglas from Connecticut. Appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939, Douglas served until 1975, a record 36 years, seven months, and eight days. Clarence Thomas is the longest-serving current justice, as he was appointed in 1991.

There have been 15 senators who went on to serve on the Supreme Court, but Earl Warren and William Paterson are the only two governors (to date) who made the leap. In 1943, Earl Warren began the first of three successive terms as governor of California, until he became chief justice from 1953 to 1969. William Paterson was an original framer of the Constitution, a senator for one year, then governor of New Jersey from 1790 to 1793 before serving on the Supreme Court from 1793 to 1806.

The state that has been most frequently represented on the Supreme Court is New York. With 17 justices, New York has nearly double the number of the state that comes in second, which is Ohio with nine. Twelve states have never sent a justice to the Supreme Court: Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Nebraska, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia.

The landmark Supreme Court case “Marbury v. Madison” saw then-Secretary of State James Madison on trial for withholding William Marbury's nomination for a federal judicial position. Ultimately, the Supreme Court decided that it should never have been given the power to preside over this case, and the law that gave them that power conflicted with the Constitution.

Eight years after serving one term as the country's 27th President, William Howard Taft became the 10th chief justice of the Supreme Court in 1921. Taft was never a fan of politics, and his greatest aspiration was to join the Supreme Court, but his wife, Helen, pushed him toward the presidency, which he won over William Jennings Bryan.

George Washington had a big advantage in this category, having been able to select the initial six justices of the Supreme Court. However, they weren't his only appointees. In total, Washington was able to nominate justices to the Supreme Court 14 times throughout his two-term presidency, 10 of which were confirmed and served.

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. was known as “the Great Dissenter” for the intelligence of his opinions, and his brilliance as a writer gave us some of the more enduring lines from Supreme Court decisions. With regard to free speech, Holmes wrote that it should only be curtailed by “clear and present danger,” and “the most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting ‘fire’ in a crowded theater.”

Outside the 1984 Republican National Convention, Gregory Johnson burned an American flag to protest the policies of President Ronald Reagan. The state of Texas arrested and charged him for the desecration of a venerated object, but the Supreme Court overruled the conviction. In a 5-4 decision, the court held that flag burning constitutes a form of "symbolic speech" that is protected by the First Amendment.

After its establishment in 1789, the court first assembled in the Merchants Exchange Building in New York City. This home would be short-lived, however, as the court moved to Philadelphia one year later along with the National Capital. No decisions were made from New York City, as the court spent its first year figuring out how it would work.

In 1951, Oliver Brown's daughter Linda was denied entrance to Topeka's all-white elementary schools, leading him to argue that segregation violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. In the landmark case "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka," the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.

John Jay was the first-ever chief justice of the Supreme Court when it was founded in 1789. After his six-year tenure, John Rutledge filled in as an interim chief for a few months before Oliver Ellsworth served in the position. Four years later, John Marshall sat as chief and remained in that position for the next 34 years. In total, more than 12% of all Supreme Court justices have had the first name "John."

If you're on the Supreme Court and you aren't the chief justice, you're an associate justice. As of 2021, there have been 103 associate justices in the court's history, all of whom were allowed to serve a life tenure in their position. Eight associate justices serve on the court at any given time, and for their work, they are paid a salary of $258,900 each year.

The 2000 Presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore came down to the state of Florida and it was too close to call. On December 8, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a statewide recount, but Bush filed a suit to stop the recount, and the Supreme Court allowed it, deciding that the Florida Supreme Court had illegally created new election law when moving forward with the recount. That decision directly led to Bush's win.

Before he was nominated to the Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall was a trial lawyer who successfully argued the case “Brown v. Board of Education,” among others. In July 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson named Marshall U.S. Solicitor General, and two years later, Johnson nominated him to the Supreme Court. During his tenure, Marshall voted to defend civil rights and was adamantly opposed to the death penalty.

In the late 19th century, Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller instituted the practice of a "judicial handshake" before the justices assemble to go on the bench each day and at the beginning of their private conferences. At each meeting, every justice shakes hands with each of the other eight in order to remind themselves that differences of opinion on the court do not preclude overall harmony of purpose.

On July 24, 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a fatal blow to the presidency of Richard Nixon amid the Watergate Scandal. "United States v. Nixon" saw the President attempting to claim that his executive privilege allowed him to withhold access to incriminating audio tapes in the face of a government subpoena. In its decision, the unanimous court held that the tapes had to be released and that no one, not even the President, is above the law.

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan appointed Sandra Day O'Connor to the Supreme Court, making her the first woman ever to hold the title of Supreme Court justice. She served on the court until 2006, and in 2009 Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. Since her elevation to the court, four other women have become Supreme Court justices.

The term “separation of powers” was coined in the 18th century by the French philosopher Montesquieu, and the principle was heavily embraced by the Founding Fathers while drafting the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution established the legislative, executive, and judicial branches as part of this system of checks and balances. As per Article 3 of the document, the judicial branch includes the Supreme Court.

The first chief justice, John Jay, often wore robes with red accents, in the manner of early colonial and English judges. But since the turn of the 19th century, the Supreme Court has been costumed in black. Chief Justice John Marshall led the shift in fashion to reinforce the idea that justice is blind. However, there is actually no official policy about robes — most justices just choose to follow tradition.