Are you curious about which generation each U.S. Supreme Court Justice belongs to?
Does the generation they were raised up in affect their views and the judicial movement of the country? Does it matter whether the court is all from one generation or a mix? You’ll have to answer these questions yourself, but to help you think on it, here’s a list of each Supreme Court Justice and the generation they were born into.
Justices with an asterisk by their names are Chief Justices.
| Justice | Birth Year | Appointed by | Appointed Year | Generation |
| *John Jay | 1745 | Washington | 1789 | Republican Generation |
| James Wilson | 1742 | Washington | 1789 | Republican Generation |
| John Rutledge | 1739 | Washington | 1790 | Liberty Generation |
| William Cushing | 1732 | Washington | 1790 | Liberty Generation |
| John Blair | 1732 | Washington | 1790 | Liberty Generation |
| James Iredell | 1751 | Washington | 1790 | Republican Generation |
| Thomas Johnson | 1732 | Washington | 1791 | Liberty Generation |
| William Paterson | 1745 | Washington | 1793 | Republican Generation |
| *John Rutledge | 1739 | Washington | 1795 | Liberty Generation |
| Samuel Chase | 1741 | Washington | 1796 | Liberty Generation |
| *Oliver Ellsworth | 1745 | Washington | 1796 | Republican Generation |
| Bushrod Washington | 1762 | John Adams | 1798 | Republican Generation |
| Alfred Moore | 1755 | John Adams | 1800 | Republican Generation |
| *John Marshall | 1755 | John Adams | 1801 | Republican Generation |
| William Johnson | 1771 | Jefferson | 1804 | Compromise Generation |
| Henry Brockholst Livingston | 1757 | Jefferson | 1807 | Republican Generation |
| Thomas Todd | 1765 | Jefferson | 1807 | Republican Generation |
| Gabriel Duvall | 1752 | Madison | 1811 | Republican Generation |
| Joseph Story | 1779 | Madison | 1812 | Compromise Generation |
| Smith Thompson | 1768 | Monroe | 1823 | Compromise Generation |
| Robert Trimble | 1776 | J.Q. Adams | 1826 | Compromise Generation |
| John McLean | 1785 | Jackson | 1829 | Compromise Generation |
| Henry Baldwin | 1780 | Jackson | 1830 | Compromise Generation |
| James Moore Wayne | 1790 | Jackson | 1835 | Compromise Generation |
| *Roger Brooke Taney | 1777 | Jackson | 1836 | Compromise Generation |
| Philip Pendleton Barbour | 1783 | Jackson | 1836 | Compromise Generation |
| John Catron | 1786 | Jackson | 1837 | Compromise Generation |
| John McKinley | 1780 | Van Buren | 1838 | Compromise Generation |
| Peter Vivian Daniel | 1784 | Van Buren | 1842 | Compromise Generation |
| Samuel Nelson | 1792 | Tyler | 1845 | Transcendental Generation |
| Levi Woodbury | 1789 | Polk | 1845 | Compromise Generation |
| Robert Cooper Grier | 1794 | Polk | 1846 | Transcendental Generation |
| Benjamin Robbins Curtis | 1809 | Fillmore | 1851 | Transcendental Generation |
| John Archibald Campbell | 1811 | Pierce | 1853 | Transcendental Generation |
| Nathan Clifford | 1803 | Buchanan | 1858 | Transcendental Generation |
| Noah Haynes Swayne | 1804 | Lincoln | 1862 | Transcendental Generation |
| Samuel Freeman Miller | 1816 | Lincoln | 1862 | Transcendental Generation |
| David Davis | 1815 | Lincoln | 1862 | Transcendental Generation |
| Stephen Johnson Field | 1816 | Lincoln | 1863 | Transcendental Generation |
| *Salmon Portland Chase | 1808 | Lincoln | 1864 | Transcendental Generation |
| William Strong | 1808 | Grant | 1870 | Transcendental Generation |
| Joseph P. Bradley | 1813 | Grant | 1870 | Transcendental Generation |
| Ward Hunt | 1810 | Grant | 1873 | Transcendental Generation |
| *Morrison Remick Waite | 1816 | Grant | 1874 | Transcendental Generation |
| John Marshall Harlan | 1833 | Hayes | 1877 | Gilded Generation |
| William Burnham Woods | 1824 | Hayes | 1881 | Gilded Generation |
| Stanley Matthews | 1824 | Garfield | 1881 | Gilded Generation |
| Horace Gray | 1828 | Arthur | 1882 | Gilded Generation |
| Samuel Blatchford | 1820 | Arthur | 1882 | Transcendental Generation |
| *Melville Weston Fuller | 1833 | Cleveland | 1888 | Gilded Generation |
| Lucius Quintus C. Lamar | 1825 | Cleveland | 1888 | Gilded Generation |
| David Josiah Brewer | 1837 | Harrison | 1890 | Gilded Generation |
| Henry Billings Brown | 1836 | Harrison | 1891 | Gilded Generation |
| George Shiras, Jr. | 1832 | Harrison | 1892 | Gilded Generation |
| Howell Edmunds Jackson | 1832 | Harrison | 1893 | Gilded Generation |
| Edward Douglass White | 1845 | Cleveland | 1894 | Progressive Generation |
| Rufus Wheeler Peckham | 1838 | Cleveland | 1896 | Gilded Generation |
| Joseph McKenna | 1843 | McKinley | 1898 | Progressive Generation |
| Oliver Wendell Holmes | 1841 | T. Roosevelt | 1902 | Gilded Generation |
| William Rufus Day | 1849 | T. Roosevelt | 1903 | Progressive Generation |
| William Henry Moody | 1853 | T. Roosevelt | 1906 | Progressive Generation |
| *Edward Douglass White | 1845 | Taft | 1910 | Progressive Generation |
| Horace Harmon Lurton | 1844 | Taft | 1910 | Progressive Generation |
| Charles Evans Hughes | 1862 | Taft | 1910 | Missionary Generation |
| Willis Van Devanter | 1859 | Taft | 1911 | Progressive Generation |
| Joseph Rucker Lamar | 1857 | Taft | 1911 | Progressive Generation |
| Mahlon Pitney | 1858 | Taft | 1912 | Progressive Generation |
| James Clark McReynolds | 1862 | Wilson | 1914 | Missionary Generation |
| Louis Dembitz Brandeis | 1856 | Wilson | 1916 | Progressive Generation |
| John Hessin Clarke | 1857 | Wilson | 1916 | Progressive Generation |
| *William Howard Taft | 1857 | Harding | 1921 | Progressive Generation |
| George Sutherland | 1862 | Harding | 1922 | Missionary Generation |
| Pierce Butler | 1866 | Harding | 1923 | Missionary Generation |
| Edward Terry Sanford | 1865 | Harding | 1923 | Missionary Generation |
| Harlan Fiske Stone | 1872 | Coolidge | 1925 | Missionary Generation |
| *Charles Evans Hughes | 1862 | Hoover | 1930 | Missionary Generation |
| Owen Josephus Roberts | 1875 | Hoover | 1930 | Missionary Generation |
| Benjamin Nathan Cardozo | 1870 | Hoover | 1932 | Missionary Generation |
| Hugo Lafayette Black | 1886 | F. Roosevelt | 1937 | Lost Generation |
| Stanley Forman Reed | 1884 | F. Roosevelt | 1938 | Lost Generation |
| Felix Frankfurter | 1882 | F. Roosevelt | 1939 | Missionary Generation |
| William Orville Douglas | 1898 | F. Roosevelt | 1939 | Lost Generation |
| Frank Murphy | 1890 | F. Roosevelt | 1940 | Lost Generation |
| *Harlan Fiske Stone | 1872 | F. Roosevelt | 1941 | Missionary Generation |
| James Francis Byrnes | 1882 | F. Roosevelt | 1941 | Missionary Generation |
| Robert Houghwout Jackson | 1892 | F. Roosevelt | 1941 | Lost Generation |
| Wiley Blount Rutledge | 1894 | F. Roosevelt | 1943 | Lost Generation |
| Harold Hitz Burton | 1888 | Truman | 1945 | Lost Generation |
| *Fred Moore Vinson | 1890 | Truman | 1946 | Lost Generation |
| Tom Campbell Clark | 1899 | Truman | 1949 | Lost Generation |
| Sherman Minton | 1890 | Truman | 1949 | Lost Generation |
| *Earl Warren | 1891 | Eisenhower | 1953 | Lost Generation |
| John Marshall Harlan | 1899 | Eisenhower | 1955 | Lost Generation |
| William J. Brennan, Jr. | 1906 | Eisenhower | 1956 | Greatest Generation |
| Charles Evans Whittaker | 1901 | Eisenhower | 1957 | Greatest Generation |
| Potter Stewart | 1915 | Eisenhower | 1958 | Greatest Generation |
| Byron Raymond White | 1917 | Kennedy | 1962 | Greatest Generation |
| Arthur Joseph Goldberg | 1908 | Kennedy | 1962 | Greatest Generation |
| Abe Fortas | 1910 | L. Johnson | 1965 | Greatest Generation |
| Thurgood Marshall | 1908 | L. Johnson | 1967 | Greatest Generation |
| *Warren Earl Burger | 1907 | Nixon | 1969 | Greatest Generation |
| Harry A. Blackmun | 1908 | Nixon | 1970 | Greatest Generation |
| Lewis F. Powell, Jr. | 1907 | Nixon | 1972 | Greatest Generation |
| William H. Rehnquist | 1924 | Nixon | 1972 | Greatest Generation |
| John Paul Stevens | 1920 | Ford | 1975 | Greatest Generation |
| Sandra Day O’Connor | 1930 | Reagan | 1981 | Silent Generation |
| *William H. Rehnquist | 1924 | Reagan | 1986 | Greatest Generation |
| Antonin Scalia | 1936 | Reagan | 1986 | Silent Generation |
| Anthony M. Kennedy | 1936 | Reagan | 1988 | Silent Generation |
| David H. Souter | 1939 | G.H.W. Bush | 1990 | Silent Generation |
| Clarence Thomas | 1948 | G.H.W. Bush | 1991 | Baby Boomer Generation |
| Ruth Bader Ginsburg | 1933 | Clinton | 1993 | Silent Generation |
| Stephen G. Breyer | 1938 | Clinton | 1994 | Silent Generation |
| *John G. Roberts, Jr. | 1955 | G.W. Bush | 2005 | Baby Boomer Generation |
| Samuel A. Alito, Jr. | 1950 | G.W. Bush | 2006 | Baby Boomer Generation |
| Sonia Sotomayor | 1954 | Obama | 2009 | Baby Boomer Generation |
| Elena Kagan | 1960 | Obama | 2010 | Baby Boomer Generation |
| Neil M. Gorsuch | 1967 | Trump | 2017 | Generation X |
| Brett M. Kavanaugh | 1965 | Trump | 2018 | Generation X |
| Amy Coney Barrett | 1972 | Trump | 2020 | Generation X |
| Ketanji Brown Jackson | 1970 | Biden | 2022 | Generation X |
I’ve taken most of the generation names and dates from Strauss-Howe Generational Theory.
Unlike U.S. Presidents, Generation X is represented on this list. I wonder if all 9 Justices might be Generation X at some point in time. What do you think that might mean for the country? Anything notable? When will the first Millennial be appointed?
If you like this list, you’ll naturally want to check out:
United States Presidents by Generation – A List
Here are some more you might like:
The Weirdest Thing About Each Generation
A Chart of Generational Stereotypes
We Need a Gen X President But We Aren’t Going to Get One
Finally, if you’re Gen X, you’ve come to the right place. Explore more here.