The Constitution of the United States does not require that any federal judges have any particular educational or career background, but the work of the Court involves complex questions of law – ranging from constitutional law to administrative law to admiralty law – and consequentially, a legal education has become a de facto prerequisite to appointment on the United States Supreme Court. Every person who has been nominated to the Court has been an attorney.
Before the advent of modern law schools in the United States, justices, like most attorneys of the time, completed their legal studies by "reading law" (studying under and acting as an apprentice to more experienced attorneys) rather than attending a formal program. The first Justice to be appointed who had attended an actual law school was Levi Woodbury, appointed to the Court in 1846. Woodbury had attended Tapping Reeve Law School in Litchfield, Connecticut, the most prestigious law school in the United States in that day, prior to his admission to the bar in 1812. However, Woodbury did not earn a law degree. Woodbury's successor on the Court, Benjamin Robbins Curtis, who received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1832, and was appointed to the Court in 1851, was the first Justice to bear such a credential.
Associate Justice James F. Byrnes, whose short tenure lasted from June 1941 to October 1942, was the last Justice without a law degree to be appointed; Stanley Forman Reed, who served on the Court from 1938 to 1957, was the last sitting Justice from such a background. In total, of the 114 justices appointed to the Court, 49 have had law degrees, an additional 18 attended some law school but did not receive a degree, and 47 received their legal education without any law school attendance.
Currently serving justices are listed in bold below.
Four or more justices Harvard Law School – 22 alumni; 18 graduates Harry Blackmun Louis Brandeis William J. Brennan Jr. Stephen Breyer Henry Billings Brown – also studied law at Yale, did not receive law degree from either Harold H. Burton Benjamin Robbins Curtis Felix Frankfurter Melville Fuller – did not graduate; Chief Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg – graduated from Columbia Law School Neil Gorsuch Horace Gray Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Ketanji Brown Jackson Elena Kagan Anthony Kennedy William Henry Moody – did not graduate Lewis F. Powell Jr. – LL.M. graduate John Roberts – Chief Justice Edward Terry Sanford Antonin Scalia David Souter Yale Law School – 11 alumni, 9 graduates Samuel Alito Henry Billings Brown – also studied law at Harvard, did not receive law degree from either David Davis Abe Fortas Brett Kavanaugh Sherman Minton – LL.M. graduate, attended Indiana University George Shiras Jr. – did not graduate Sonia Sotomayor Potter Stewart Clarence Thomas Byron White Columbia Law School – 7 alumni, 4 graduates Benjamin N. Cardozo – completed two years, did not graduate William O. Douglas Ruth Bader Ginsburg – also attended Harvard Law School Charles Evans Hughes – Chief Justice Joseph McKenna – studied at the law school, did not graduate Stanley Forman Reed – also attended University of Virginia School of Law, did not graduate from either Harlan F. Stone – Chief Justice
Three justices University of Michigan Law School William Rufus Day – did not graduate Frank Murphy George Sutherland Litchfield Law School (defunct) Henry Baldwin Ward Hunt Levi Woodbury – first justice to have attended law school
Two justices Albany Law School David J. Brewer Robert H. Jackson – completed one-year program, awarded certificate of completion Cincinnati Law School (University of Cincinnati College of Law) William Howard Taft – Chief Justice (and former President) Willis Van Devanter Cumberland School of Law Howell E. Jackson Horace Harmon Lurton Indiana University Maurer School of Law Sherman Minton Wiley Rutledge – studied part-time before leaving and completing degree at University of Colorado Law School Northwestern University School of Law Arthur Goldberg John Paul Stevens Stanford Law School Sandra Day O'Connor William Rehnquist – Chief Justice University of Virginia School of Law James Clark McReynolds Stanley Forman Reed – also attended Columbia Law School, did not graduate from either Washington and Lee University School of Law Joseph Rucker Lamar Lewis F. Powell Jr. – also received an LL.M. from Harvard Law School
One justice Centre College School of Law (defunct) Fred M. Vinson – Chief Justice Howard University School of Law Thurgood Marshall Middle Temple – one of the four Inns of Court in London, England John Rutledge Mitchell Hamline School of Law then known as St. Paul College of Law Warren E. Burger – Chief Justice New York Law School John Marshall Harlan II Notre Dame Law School Amy Coney Barrett Transylvania University School of Law John Marshall Harlan Tulane University School of Law Edward White – Chief Justice University of Alabama School of Law Hugo Black University of California, Berkeley School of Law Earl Warren – Chief Justice University of Colorado Law School Wiley Rutledge – originally studied at Indiana University prior to attending the University of Colorado University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law Charles Evans Whittaker University of Pennsylvania Law School Owen Roberts University of Texas School of Law Tom C. Clark
University or college educated These justices were educated at the equivalent of an undergraduate level, but did not receive legal education at the graduate level, the model under which law schools in the United States are currently organized.
Carleton College Pierce Butler Case Western Reserve University John Hessin Clarke College of William & Mary John Marshall – Chief Justice Philip P. Barbour Bushrod Washington John Blair Jr. Columbia University John Jay – Chief Justice Samuel Blatchford Dartmouth College Salmon P. Chase – Chief Justice Dickinson College Robert Cooper Grier Roger B. Taney – Chief Justice Emory University Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar Harvard University William Cushing John McLean Joseph Story Kenyon College Stanley Matthews Middlebury College Samuel Nelson Princeton University Oliver Ellsworth – Chief Justice William Johnson Henry Brockholst Livingston William Paterson Mahlon Pitney Smith Thompson James M. Wayne Rutgers University Joseph P. Bradley Saint Joseph's University Joseph McKenna – also studied at Columbia Law School for a month between nomination to the Court and confirmation Transylvania University Samuel Freeman Miller - earned a medical degree Robert Trimble University of Georgia John Archibald Campbell University of St Andrews James Wilson – also attended the University of Edinburgh and University of Glasgow but did not graduate Washington and Lee University Thomas Todd Williams College Stephen Johnson Field Yale University William Strong Morrison Waite—Chief Justice William Burnham Woods
No university education Some justices received no education in a university setting, but were instead either trained through apprenticeships or were self-taught, as was common with many lawyers prior to the mid-20th century. This practice is often known as reading the law.
James F. Byrnes John Catron Samuel Chase Nathan Clifford Peter V. Daniel Gabriel Duvall James Iredell Thomas Johnson John McKinley Alfred Moore Rufus W. Peckham Noah Haynes Swayne
See also List of law schools in the United States
References
source for seat information
PDF (28 kB) source for term of active service