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Home > Historical Highlights > Special Exhibits > House Members Who Became Members of the U.S. Supreme Court

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House Members Who Became Members of the U.S. Supreme Court

There have been 15 former House members who have served on the U.S. Supreme Court. Among this number, 2 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) Supreme Court Service Public Career
Fred M. Vinson, Democrat of Kentucky (1924-1929, 1931-1938) 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, Democrat of South Carolina (1911-1925) 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, Republican of Utah (1901-1903) Associate Justice, 1922-1938 Senator from Utah (1905-1917)
Utah state senate (1897-1901)
Mahlon Pitney, Republican of New Jersey (1895-1899) 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, Republican of Massachusetts (1895-1902) 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, Republican of California (1885-1892) 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, Democrat of Mississippi (1857-1860, 1873-1877) 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)
Nathan Clifford, Democrat of Maine (1839-1843) 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, Jacksonian of Alabama (1833-1835) Associate Justice, 1838-1852 Senator from Alabama (1826-1831, 1837)
Alabama state house of representatives (1820-1822, 1831, 1836)
Philip P. Barbour, Jeffersonian Republican/Jacksonian of Virginia (1814-1825, 1827-1830), Speaker of the House (1821-1823) 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, Jacksonian of Georgia (1829-1835) 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, Jeffersonian Republican of Pennsylvania (1817-1822) Associate Justice, 1830-1844  
John McLean, Jeffersonian Republican of Ohio (1813-1816) Associate Justice, 1830-1861 Postmaster General (1823-1829)
Commissioner, General Land Office (1822-1823)
Ohio state supreme court (1816-1822)
Joseph Story, Jeffersonian Republican of Massachusetts (1808-1809) Associate Justice, 1812-1845 Massachusetts state house of representatives (1805-1807, 1811-1812)
John Marshall, Federalist of Virginia (1799-1800) 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)

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress [http://bioguide.congress.gov/biosearch/biosearch.asp].

 


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