Member Biographical Information
House Members Who Became Members of the
U.S. Supreme Court
There have been 17 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) |
William Strong, Democrat of Pennsylvania (1847-1851) | Associate Justice, 1870-1880 | Associate justice supreme court of Pennsylvania (1857-1868) |
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) |
Gabriel Duvall, Republican of Maryland (1794-1796) | Associate Justice, 1811-1835 | Chief justice general court of Maryland (1796-1802) Comptroller of the Treasury (1802-1811) |