Historical Highlight
House Members Who Became U.S. Supreme Court Justices
There have been 17 former House Members who have served on the U.S. Supreme Court. Among this number, two were Chief Justices of the United States. This chart lists these individuals, along with information about the other public offices they held. Those who served as Chief Justice of the United States are identified in bold.
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) |