List of United States Chief Justices by time in office

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

United States of America
Image:Seal of the United States Supreme Court.png
This article is part of the series on the  United States Supreme Court
The Court
Decisions · Process History · Building
Current membership
Chief Justice John Roberts Associate Justices John Paul Stevens Antonin Scalia Anthony Kennedy David Souter Clarence Thomas Ruth Bader Ginsburg Stephen Breyer Samuel Alito Retired Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
All members
List of all members (by court • by seat • by time in office) List of Chief Justices (by time in office) All nominations Unsuccessful nominations Court demographics
Court functionaries
Clerks · Reporter of Decisions Supreme Court Police
Other countries · Law Portal  This box: view • talk • edit

This is a list of U.S. Chief Justices by time in office. This is based on the difference between dates; if counted by number of calendar days all the figures would be one greater.

# in office	Chief Justice	Length in days	Term of office	Rank by length of term
4	John Marshall	12,570	February 4, 1801–July 6, 1835	1
5	Roger B. Taney	10,425	March 28, 1836–October 12, 1864	2
8	Melville Fuller	7,938	October 8, 1888–July 4, 1910	3
16	William Rehnquist	6,917	September 26, 1986–September 3, 2005	4
15	Warren E. Burger	6,304	June 23, 1969–September 26, 1986	5
14	Earl Warren	5,740	October 5, 1953–June 23, 1969	6
7	Morrison Waite	5,133	March 4, 1874–March 23, 1888	7
11	Charles Evans Hughes	4,144	February 24, 1930–June 30, 1941	8
9	Edward Douglass White	3,804	December 19, 1910–May 19, 1921	9
10	William Howard Taft	3,129	July 11, 1921–February 3, 1930	10
6	Salmon P. Chase	3,065	December 15, 1864–May 7, 1873	11
13	Fred M. Vinson	2,633	June 24, 1946–September 8, 1953	12
1	John Jay	2,079	October 19, 1789–June 29, 1795	13
12	Harlan Fiske Stone	1,754	July 3, 1941–April 22, 1946	14
3	Oliver Ellsworth	1,742	March 8, 1796–December 15, 1800	15
17	John Roberts	1,360	September 29, 2005 – present	16
2	John Rutledge	168	July 1, 1795–December 15, 1795	17
(3)	William Cushing§	(2)	February 3, 1796–February 5, 1796	(18)

§ Historians disagree as to whether William Cushing resigned (and, therefore, held the position) or declined the commission (and never held the position at all)

[edit] Trivia

• In order to surpass the tenure of his immediate predecessor William Rehnquist, John Roberts will have to serve as Chief Justice until Saturday, September 7, 2024. Roberts will be 69 years old on that date.
• In order to surpass John Marshall as the longest-serving Chief Justice in history, John Roberts will have to serve as Chief Justice until Wednesday, March 1, 2040. Roberts will be 85 years old on that date.
• In order to surpass William O. Douglas as the longest serving Supreme Court Justice in history, John Roberts will have to serve on the Supreme Court until Saturday, April 26, 2042. Roberts will be 87 years old on that date.

[edit] See also

• Chief Justice of the United States
• List of U.S. Supreme Court Justices by time in office