The Justices of the Supreme Court

Ginsburg, Souter, Thomas, Breyer
Scalia, Stevens, Rehnquist, O'Connor, Kennedy
(Click on a justice to read their biography)

	William H. Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the United States, was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 1, 1924. He married Natalie Cornell and has three children-James, Janet and Nancy. From 1943-46, he served in the U.S. Army Air Force. He received a B.A., M.A. and LL.B. from Stanford University and an M.A. from Harvard University. He served as a law clerk for Justice Robert H. Jackson of the Supreme Court and practiced law in Phoenix, Arizona, from 1953-69. He served as Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel from 1969-71. President Nixon nominated him to the Supreme Court, and he took his seat as an Associate Justice on January 7, 1972. Nominated as Chief Justice by President Reagan, he assumed that office on September 26, 1986.
	Ruth Bader Ginsburg took her oath of office August 10, 1993 as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, after having been nominated by President Clinton. Appointed in 1980 by President Carter to the United States Court of Appeals for D.C. While serving in this role, she was honored by the American Bar Association with an "exceptionally well qualified" rating. Prior to her appointment to the federal bench, Judge Ginsburg was a constitutional law and procedures professor at Columbia University Law School for nine years. For nine years she taught at Rutgers University Law School where she was promoted from Assistant Professor, to Associate Professor in 1966, then onto full professor in 1969. Prior to her teaching career, Judge Ginsburg served as a law clerk at Judge Edmund L. Palmieri of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1933, where she was raised. She gained her B.A. in 1954 from Cornell University. In 1956, Judge Ginsburg entered Harvard Law School, where she was one of fewer than a dozen women students. She transferred to Columbia Law School where she completed her J.D. in 1959. She was a member of both the Harvard and Columbia Law Reviews. Judge Ginsburg is married to Martin Ginsburg, a Professor of Taxation at Georgetown Law Center and a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Fried, Frank, Harris & Shriver. The Ginsburgs have two grown children, Jane, a law professor at Columbia, and James, a law student at the University of Chicago and producer of classical recordings.
	Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice, was born August 15, 1938, in San Francisco, California, the son of Irving G. Breyer and Anne R. Breyer. He married Joanna Hare, September 4, 1967. They have three children: Chloe (born 1969); Nell (born 1971) and Michael (born 1974). Justice Breyer Attended public elementary and high schools (Lowell High School) in San Francisco; Stanford University, A.B. 1959, Great Distinction; Oxford University, Magdalen College, Marshall Scholar, B.A., 1st Class Honors, 1961; Harvard Law School, LL.B., magna cum laude, 1964, Harvard Law Review, articles editor. Justice Breyer served as clerk to the Honorable Arthur J. Goldberg, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States, during the 1964-1965 term. Justice Breyer taught law at Harvard University; Assistant Professor, 1967-1970; Professor of Law, 1970-1980; Professor, Kennedy School of Government, 1977-1980; Lecturer, 1980-present. Visiting Professor, College of Law, Sydney, Australia, 1975; University of Rome, 1993. Justice Breyer has served as Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, December 10, 1980 (nominated by President Carter); Chief Judge, 1990-1994; Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States, August 3, 1994 (nominated by President Clinton); Member, Judicial Conference of the United States, 1990-1994; Member, U.S. Sentencing Commission, 1985-1989.
	John Paul Stevens, Associate Justice, was born in Chicago, Illinois, April 20, 1920. He married Maryan Mulholland Simon and has four children-John Joseph, Kathryn Stevens Jedlicka, Elizabeth Jane Sesemann, and Susan Roberta Mullen. He received an A.B. from the University of Chicago in 1941 and a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law in 1947. He served in the United States Navy 1942-45, and was a law clerk to Justice Wiley Rutledge of the Supreme Court during the 1947-48 Term. He was admitted to law practice in Illinois in 1949. He was Associate Counsel to the Subcommittee on the Study of Monopoly Power of the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives, 1951-52, and a member of the Attorney General's National Committee to Study Anti-trust Law, 1953- 55. From 1970-75 he served as a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. President Ford nominated him as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and he took his seat December 19, 1975.
	Sandra Day O'Connor, Associate Justice, was born in El Paso, Texas, March 26, 1930. She married John Jay O'Connor III in 1952 and has three sons- Scott, Brian, and Jay. She received her B.A. and LL.B. from Stanford University. She served as Deputy County Attorney of San Mateo County, California from 1952-1953 and as Civilian Attorney for Quartermaster Market Center, Frankfurt, Germany from 1954-1957. From 1958-1960 she practiced law in Maryvale, Arizona, and served as assistant Attorney General of Arizona from 1965-1969. She was appointed to the Arizona State Senate in 1969 and was subsequently reelected to two two-year terms. In 1975 she was elected judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court and served until 1979 when she was appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals. President Reagan nominated her as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and she took her seat September 25, 1981.
	Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice, was born in Trenton, New Jersey, March 11, 1936. He married Maureen McCarthy and has nine children-Ann Forrest, Eugene, John Francis, Catherine Elisabeth, Mary Clare, Paul David, Matthew, Christopher James, and Margaret Jane. He received his A.B. from Georgetown University and the University of Fribourg, Switzerland (1957), his LL.B. from Harvard Law School (1960), and was a Sheldon Fellow of Harvard University (1960-61). He was in private practice in Cleveland, Ohio (1961-67), a Professor of Law at the University of Virginia (1967-71) and the University of Chicago (1977-82), and a Visiting Professor of Law at Georgetown University and Stanford University. He was Chairman of the American Bar Association's Section of Administrative Law (1981-82) and its Conference of Section Chairmen (1982-83). He served the federal government as General Counsel of the Office of Telecommunications Policy (1971-72), Chairman of the Administrative Conference (1972-74), and Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel (1974-77). He was appointed Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1982. President Reagan nominated him to the Supreme Court and he took his seat September 26, 1986.
	Anthony M. Kennedy, Associate Justice, was born in Sacramento, California, July 23, 1936. He married Mary Davis and has three children-Justin Anthony, Gregory Davis, and Kristin Marie. He received his B.A. from Stanford University and the London School of Economics (1958), and his LL.B. from Harvard Law School (1961). He was in private practice in San Francisco, California (1961-1963), as well as in Sacramento, California (1963-1975). From 1965 to 1988 he was he was a Professor of Constitutional Law at the McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific. He has served in numerous positions during his career, including the California Army National Guard (1961), member of the board of the Federal Judicial Center (1987-1988) and member of two committees of the Judicial Conference of the United States: the Advisory Panel on Financial Disclosure Reports and Judicial Activities, subsequently renamed the Advisory Committee on Codes on Conduct (1979-1987), and the Committee on Pacific Territories (1979-to present), which he has chaired since 1982. He was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1975. President Reagan nominated him to the Supreme Court, and he took his seat February 18, 1988.
	David Hackett Souter, Associate Justice, was born in Melrose, Massachusetts, September 17, 1939. He was graduated from Harvard College from which he received his A.B. in 1961. After two years as a Rhodes Scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford, he received an A.B. in Jurisprudence from Oxford University in 1963, and an M.A. in 1989. After receiving an LL.B. from Harvard Law School in 1966, he was an associate at Orr and Reno in Concord, New Hampshire from 1966 to 1968, when he became an Assistant Attorney General of New Hampshire. In 1971, he became Deputy Attorney General, and in 1976, Attorney General of New Hampshire. In 1978, he was named Associate Justice of the Superior Court of New Hampshire, and was appointed to the Supreme Court of New Hampshire as an Associate Justice in 1983. He became a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on May 25, 1990. President Bush nominated him to the Supreme Court, where he took his seat on October 9, 1990.
	Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice, was born in the Pinpoint community of Georgia near Savannah June 23, 1948. He married Virginia Lamp in 1987 and has one child, Jamal Adeen, by a previous marriage. He attended Conception Seminary in 1967-1968 and received an A.B., cum laude, from Holy Cross College in 1971 and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1974. He was admitted to law practice in Missouri in 1974, and served as Assistant Attorney General of Missouri, 1974-1977; an attorney with the Monsanto Company, 1977-1979; and Legislative Assistant to Senator John Danforth, 1979-1981. From 1981-1982 he served as Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, and as Chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 1982-1990. From 1990-1991, he served as a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. President Bush nominated him as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court and he took his seat October 23, 1991.