Historical Highlight
House Members Who Became U.S. Supreme Court Justices
![Philip P. Barbour served eight terms in the House of Representatives, including one as Speaker of the House before becoming a Supreme Court Justice in 1836.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130214133218im_/http://historycms.house.gov/assets/32981.jpeg?wd=190)
About this object Philip P. Barbour served eight terms in the House of Representatives, including one as Speaker of the House before becoming a Supreme Court Justice in 1836.
In only one case was a House Member appointed to the Supreme Court directly: James M. Wayne in 1835.
Individual (House Service) | State | Party | Supreme Court Service | Public Career |
---|---|---|---|---|
Fred M. Vinson (1924-1929, 1931-1938) | Kentucky | Democrat | Chief Justice, 1946-1953 | Secretary of the Treasury (1945-1946) Director, Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion (1945) Federal Loan Administrator (1945) Director, Office of Economic Stabilization (1943-1945) U.S. Court of Appeals (1938-1943) Commonwealth of Kentucky attorney (1921-1924) City attorney, Louisa, Kentucky (1914-1915) |
James F. Byrnes (1911-1925) | South Carolina | Democrat | Associate Justice, 1941-1942 | Governor of South Carolina (1951-1955) Secretary of State (1945-1947) Director, Office of War Mobilization (1943-1945) Senator from South Carolina (1931-1941) |
George Sutherland (1901-1903) | Utah | Republican | Associate Justice, 1922-1938 | Senator from Utah (1905-1917) Utah state senate (1897-1901) |
Mahlon Pitney (1895-1899) | New Jersey | Republican | Associate Justice, 1912-1922 |
Chancellor of New Jersey (1908-1912) New Jersey state supreme court (1901-1908) New Jersey state senate (1899-1901) |
William H. Moody (1895-1902) | Massachusetts | Republican | Associate Justice, 1906-1910 |
Attorney General (1904-1906) Secretary of the Navy (1902-1904) District attorney, eastern district of Massachusetts (1890-1895) City solicitor, Haverhill, Massachusetts (1888-1890) |
Joseph McKenna (1885-1892) | California | Republican | Associate Justice, 1898-1925 |
Attorney General (1897-1898) U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit (1892-1897) California state house of representatives (1875-1876) District attorney for Solano County, California (1866-1868) |
Lucius Q.C. Lamar (1857-1860 1873-1877) | Mississippi | Democrat | Associate Justice, 1888-1893 |
Secretary of the Interior (1885-1888) Senator from Mississippi (1877-1885) Officer, CSA (1861-1865) Georgia state house of representatives (1853) |
William Strong (1847-1851) | Pennsylvania | Democrat | Associate Justice, 1870-1880 | Associate justice supreme court of Pennsylvania (1857-1868) |
Nathan Clifford (1839-1843) | Maine | Democrat | Associate Justice, 1858-1881 | Commissioner to Mexico (1848-1849) Attorney General (1846-1848) Maine state attorney general (1834-1838) Maine state house of representatives (1830-1834) |
John McKinley (1833-1835) | Alabama | Jacksonian | Associate Justice, 1838-1852 |
Senator from Alabama (1826-1831, 1837) Alabama state house of representatives (1820-1822, 1831, 1836) |
Philip P. Barbour (1814-1825, 1827-1830), Speaker of the House (1821-1823) | Virginia | Jeffersonian Republican/Jacksonian | Associate Justice, 1836-1841 |
U.S. district court judge (1830-1836) General court of Virginia (1825-1827) Virginia state house of delegates (1812-1814) |
James M. Wayne (1829-1835) | Georgia | Jacksonian | Associate Justice, 1835-1867 |
Judge, Savannah superior court (1822-1828) Judge, Savannah court of common pleas, Georgia (1820-1822) Mayor of Savannah, Georgia (1817-1819) Georgia state house of representatives (1815-1816) |
Henry Baldwin (1817-1822) | Pennsylvania | Jeffersonian Republican | Associate Justice, 1830-1844 | |
John McLean (1813-1816) | Ohio | Jeffersonian Republican | Associate Justice, 1830-1861 |
Postmaster General (1823-1829) Commissioner, General Land Office (1822-1823) Ohio state supreme court (1816-1822) |
Joseph Story (1808-1809) | Massachusetts | Jeffersonian Republican | Associate Justice, 1812-1845 | Massachusetts state house of representatives (1805-1807, 1811-1812) |
John Marshall (1799-1800) | Virginia | Federalist | Chief Justice, 1801-1835 | Secretary of State (1800-1801) Special commissioner to France (1797, 1798) Virginia state executive council (1782-1795) Virginia state house of delegates (1780, 1782-1788) |
Gabriel Duvall (1794-1796) | Maryland | Republican | Associate Justice, 1811-1835 | Chief justice general court of Maryland (1796-1802) Comptroller of the Treasury (1802-1811) |