The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on questions of U.S. constitutional or federal law. The court holds the power of judicial review, the ability to invalidate a statute for violating a provision of the Constitution. It is also able to strike down presidential directives for violating either the Constitution or statutory law.

The court consists of nine justices —the chief justice of the United States and eight associate justices— who meet at the Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. Each justice has a single vote in deciding the cases argued before the court. When in the majority, the chief justice decides who writes the opinion of the court; otherwise, the most senior justice in the majority assigns the task of writing the opinion.

Justices have lifetime tenure, meaning they remain on the court until they die, retire, resign, or are impeached and removed from office. When a vacancy occurs, the president, with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoints a new justice. The president has the plenary power to nominate, while the Senate possesses the plenary power to reject or confirm the nominee.

The Constitution sets no qualifications for service as a justice, such as age, citizenship, residence or prior judicial experience, thus a president may nominate anyone to serve, and the Senate may not set any qualifications or otherwise limit who the president can choose.

The Senate Judiciary Committee conducts hearings and votes on whether the nomination should go to the full Senate with a positive, negative or neutral report. Once the committee reports out the nomination, the full Senate considers it.

In modern times, there are lobby senators (2) to confirm or to reject a nominee depending on whether their track record aligns with the group’s views. From the Reagan administration to the present, the process has taken much longer and some believe this is because Congress sees justices as playing a more political role than in the past. The average number of days from nomination to final Senate vote since 1975 is 67 days.


Current members of the Supreme Court

There are currently (Oct. 2024) nine justices on the Supreme Court: the chief justice and eight associate justices. The chief justice is John Roberts.

Appointed by a Republican President:


Appointed by a Democratic President:


It is popularly accepted that Chief Justice Roberts and associate justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, appointed by Republican presidents, compose the court’s conservative wing, and that Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson, appointed by Democratic presidents, compose the court’s liberal wing.


Where they received their Juris Doctor title (3), and notes on religion affiliation




Religious affiliation

For much of the court’s history, every justice was a man of Northwestern European descent, and almost always Protestant. Now, six justices are Roman Catholics (Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Kavanaugh, Barrett and Sotomayor), one is Jewish (Kagan), and one is Protestant (Jackson). (4)

“Neil Gorsuch was raised Catholic and went to the same elite Catholic prep school as Kavanaugh, but became an Episcopalian when he married an Anglican [in 1996 (2017fone)]. It is unclear if he considers himself a Catholic or a Protestant.” (2024wisc)  “Yet he speaks frequently at conferences of Catholic legal scholars seeking to expand their influence on policy” (2022romo)


Location of the mentioned Universities

Harvard is a private university in Cambridge (a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area), Massachusetts. Yale is a private university in New Haven (part of the New York City metropolitan area), Connecticut. Notre Dame is a private Catholic university in Notre Dame, Indiana. Stanford (where some former members obtained their title in Laws) is a private university in Stanford (in Santa Clara County), California.



Judicial leanings, in general  (1)


Four features of the United States Supreme Court that make it different from high courts in other countries, and help explain why polarization is an issue in the United States court:



Former members of the Supreme Court whose tenure ended after 1980  (5)

(From most recent presidents to the oldest)

Appointed by a Republican President:






Appointed by a Democratic President:




Where they received their top title in Laws, and notes on religion affiliation:













Published on October 26, 2024

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