How many Presidents of the US also served as Supreme Court justices?

Answer 1

Just one. William Howard Taft was President 1909-1913 and Chief Justice (appointed by Harding) 1921-1930. Another Justice, Charles Evans Hughes (Associate Justice 1910-1916, Chief Justice 1930-1941) ran for President in 1916 but narrowly lost to Woodrow Wilson.

Answer 2

None. William Howard Taft served as President first, from March 1909 until March 1913. President Warren G. Harding later nominated Taft as Chief Justice of the United States, and he lead the Supreme Court from July 1921 until February 1930.

Taft is the only person in US history to serve as both President and Chief Justice.

Salmon Chase, who served as Chief Justice from 1864-1873, sought the Republican party endorsement for president in 1860, but was defeated by Lincoln. Charles Evans Hughes, who was an Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court from 1910-1916, resigned from the Court on June 10, 1916, in order to become the Republican candidate for President. He was narrowly defeated by Woodrow Wilson that year, in a decision that hinged on the outcome in California. Hughes was only 594,188 popular votes behind Wilson.

Hughes lead the Supreme Court from 1930-1941.

Answer 3

A word of caution:

Bear in mind, when reading this list, that the Republican and Democratic political parties didn't fully develop until the mid- to late-19th century, and that party politics have shifted over the years. The Republicans (especially the Reformation Era Radical Republicans) of the Civil War years were more liberal than the Democrats at the time.

Republicans didn't begin being associated with conservatism, nor Democrats with liberalism, until the end of the Progressive Era, around 1920. Even after 1920, Southern Democrats (sometimes called Dixiecrats) were more conservative than their Northern counterparts, and Republicans were once more moderate than they are today. Try to resist any temptation to oversimplify analysis by relating party name with a particular ideology.

A related, but important, point to remember is that Presidents weren't always successful in choosing US Supreme Court justices whose social and political ideology matched their own. For example, Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed both Chief Justice Earl Warren and Associate Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., two of the more progressive justices of the 20th century. Additionally, some justices, like recently retired Justice John Paul Stevens, were more conservative when appointed than they were later in their tenure. For some reason, the converse is seldom true.

Presidents who appointed US Supreme Court Justices, with main party affiliation listed at the time of election (11Democrats highlighted):

President/Party

George Washington........................Independent, leaning Federalist

John Adams...................................Federalist

Thomas Jefferson...........................Democratic-Republican

James Madison...............................Democratic-Republican

James Monroe................................Democratic-Republican

John Quincy Adams.........................Varied, Democratic as President

Andrew Jackson..............................Democratic-Republican

Martin Van Buren............................Democratic-Republican

John Tyler......................................Whig

James K. Polk..............................Democratic

Millard Filmore...............................Whig

Franklin Pierce.............................Democratic

James Buchanan..........................Democratic

Abraham Lincoln.............................Republican

Ulysses S. Grant.............................Republican

Rutherford B. Hayes........................Republican

James Garfield................................Republican

Chester Arthur.................................Republican

Benjamin Harrison...........................Republican

Grover Cleveland..........................Democratic

William McKinley..............................Republican

Theodore Roosevelt..........................Varied, Republican as President

William Howard Taft..........................Republican

Woodrow Wilson...........................Democratic

Warren G. Harding...........................Republican

Calvin Coolidge................................Republican

Herbert Hoover................................Republican

Franklin D. Roosevelt....................Democratic

Harry S. Truman............................Democratic

Dwight D. Eisenhower.......................Republican

John F. Kennedy............................Democratic

Lyndon B. Johnson........................Democratic

Richard Milhous Nixon.......................Republican

Gerald Ford.....................................Republican

Ronald Reagan.................................Republican

George HW Bush..............................Republican

Bill Clinton.....................................Democratic

George W. Bush...............................Republican

Barack Obama...............................Democratic

Answer 4

A word of caution:

Bear in mind, when reading this list, that the Republican and Democratic political parties didn't fully develop until the mid- to late-19th century, and that party politics have shifted over the years. The Republicans (especially the Reformation Era Radical Republicans) of the Civil War years were more liberal than the Democrats at the time.

Republicans didn't begin being associated with conservatism, nor Democrats with liberalism, until the end of the Progressive Era, around 1920. Even after 1920, Southern Democrats (sometimes called Dixiecrats) were more conservative than their Northern counterparts, and Republicans were once more moderate than they are today. Try to resist any temptation to oversimplify analysis by relating party name with a particular ideology.

A related, but important, point to remember is that Presidents weren't always successful in choosing US Supreme Court justices whose social and political ideology matched their own. For example, Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed both Chief Justice Earl Warren and Associate Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., two of the more progressive justices of the 20th century. Additionally, some justices, like recently retired Justice John Paul Stevens, were more conservative when appointed than they were later in their tenure. For some reason, the converse is seldom true.

Presidents who appointed US Supreme Court Justices, with main party affiliation listed at the time of election (18Republicans highlighted):

President/Party

George Washington...........................Independent, leaning Federalist

John Adams......................................Federalist

Thomas Jefferson..............................Democratic-Republican

James Madison..................................Democratic-Republican

James Monroe...................................Democratic-Republican

John Quincy Adams............................Varied, Democratic as President

Andrew Jackson.................................Democratic-Republican

Martin Van Buren...............................Democratic-Republican

John Tyler.........................................Whig

James K. Polk....................................Democratic

Millard Filmore...................................Whig

Franklin Pierce...................................Democratic

James Buchanan................................Democratic

Abraham Lincoln..............................Republican

Ulysses S. Grant...............................Republican

Rutherford B. Hayes.........................Republican

James Garfield.................................Republican

Chester Arthur.................................Republican

Benjamin Harrison...........................Republican

Grover Cleveland................................Democratic

William McKinley.............................Republican

Theodore Roosevelt.........................Varied, Republican as President

William Howard Taft........................Republican

Woodrow Wilson.................................Democratic

Warren G. Harding...........................Republican

Calvin Coolidge................................Republican

Herbert Hoover................................Republican

Franklin D. Roosevelt..........................Democratic

Harry S. Truman................................Democratic

Dwight D. Eisenhower.....................Republican

John F. Kennedy.................................Democratic

Lyndon B. Johnson..............................Democratic

Richard Milhous Nixon.....................Republican

Gerald Ford......................................Republican

Ronald Reagan.................................Republican

George HW Bush..............................Republican

Bill Clinton.........................................Democratic

George W. Bush...............................Republican

Barack Obama....................................Democratic

Answer 5

The US Supreme Court has seated seventeen Chief Justices since it was established in 1789. Five Chief Justices were elevated to the position from Associate Justice; the remaining twelve were new appointments to the Court.

Answer 6

Only one. William Howard Taft. He was appointed to the court in June,1921 by Harding.
James bucanan

Answer 7

William Howard Taft