How many US Supreme Court justices retired?

Answer 1

According to court records, 35 of the 111 US Supreme Court retired. All retirements occurred after 1869, when Congress granted full retirement pay and benefits for Supreme Court justices age 70 or older with ten or more years in the federal judiciary. Prior to the Judiciary Act of 1869, most justices died in office, although seven resigned for personal reasons. None of these justices was labeled "retired" prior to legislation of retirement benefits, even if the justice never worked again.

Samuel Nelson.......................1845-1872................Tyler

Robert Cooper Grier................1846-1870.................Polk

Noah Haynes Swayne..............1862-1881................Lincoln

Stephen Johnson Field.............1863-1897................Lincoln

William Strong.......................1870-1880.................Grant

Ward Hunt.............................1873-1882................Grant

Henry Billings Brown...............1891-1906.................Harrison

George Shiras, Jr....................1892-1903.................Harrison

Joseph McKenna.....................1898-1925.................McKinley

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.........1902-1932................T. Roosevelt

William R. Day........................1903-1922................T. Roosevelt

William Henry Moody...............1906-1910................T. Roosevelt

Charles Evans Hughes (CJ).......1930-1941................Hoover (Taft appointed Associate Justice, 1910-1916)

Willis Van Devanter.................1911-1937................Taft

James Clark McReynolds..........1914-1941................Wilson

Louis Brandeis........................1916-1939................Wilson

George Sutherland..................1922-1938................Harding

Hugo Black............................1937-1971................F. Roosevelt

Stanley Forman Reed..............1938-1957................F. Roosevelt

Felix Frankfurter.....................1939-1962................F. Roosevelt

William O. Douglas.................1937-1975................F. Roosevelt

Harold Hitz Burton..................1945-1958................Truman

Tom C. Clark..........................1949-1967................Truman

Sherman Minton.....................1949-1956................Truman

Earl Warren (CJ)....................1953-1969.................Eisenhower

John Marshall Harlan II...........1955-1971.................Eisenhower

William J. Brennan, Jr.............1956-1990.................Eisenhower

Potter Stewart.......................1958-1981.................Eisenhower

Byron White..........................1962-1993.................Kennedy

Thurgood Marshall..................1967-1991................Johnson

Warren Burger (CJ)................1969-1986.................Nixon

Harry Blackmun.....................1970-1994.................Nixon

Lewis F. Powell.......................1972-1987.................Nixon

Sandra Day O'Connor..............1981-2006.................Reagan

David Hackett Souter..............1990-2009.................GHW Bush

For more information, see Related Questions, below.

Answer 2

Forty-nine justices died in office. If you mean how many US Supreme Court justices have died in open court, only one. Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on April 22, 1946, while reading aloud from his dissenting opinion on Girouard v. United States, 328 U.S. 61 (1946).

With the exception of Chief Justice Stone, the follow justices died while holding office, but not while in court.

1. Justice James Wilson.....................1789 - 1798...............Washington
2. Justice William Cushing..................1790 - 1810...............Washington
3. Justice James Iredell......................1790 - 1799...............Washington
4. Justice William Paterson.................1793 - 1806...............Washington
5. Justice Samuel Chase....................1796 - 1806...............Washington
6. Justice Bushrod Washington...........1799 - 1829................Adams
7. Chief Justice John Marshall.............1801 - 1835................Adams
8. Justice William Johnson.................1804 - 1834................Jefferson
9. Justice Henry Livingston................1807 - 1823................Jefferson
10. Justice Thomas Todd.....................1807 - 1826................Jefferson
11. Justice Joseph Story......................1812 - 1845................Madison
12. Justice Smith Thompson................1823 - 1843................Monroe
13. Justice Robert Trimble...................1826 - 1828................Adams, JQ
14. Justice John McLean......................1830 - 1861...............Jackson
15. Justice Henry Baldwin...................1830 - 1844................Jackson
16. Justice James M. Wayne................1835 - 1867................Jackson
17. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney..........1836 - 1864................Jackson
18. Justice Pendleton Barbour..............1836 - 1841................Jackson
19. Justice John Catron......................1837 - 1865.................Jackson
20. Justice John McKinley....................1838 - 1852................Van Buren
21. Justice Peter V. Daniel...................1842 - 1860................Van Buren
22. Justice Levi Woodbury...................1845 - 1851................Polk
23. Justice Nathan Clifford..................1858 - 1881................Buchanan
24. Justice Freeman Miller...................1862 - 1890................Lincoln
25. Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase........1864 - 1873................Lincoln
26. Justice Joseph P. Bradley...............1870 - 1892................Grant
27. Chief Justice Morrison Waite..........1874 - 1888................Grant
28. Justice John Marshall Harlan I........1877 - 1911................Hayes
29. Justice William B. Woods...............1881 - 1887................Hayes
30. Justice Stanley Matthews..............1881 - 1889................Garfield
31. Justice Horace Gray......................1882 - 1902................Arthur
32. Justice Samuel Blatchford.............1882 - 1893................Arthur
33. Justice Lucius Lamar.....................1888 - 1893................Cleveland
34. Chief Justice Melville Fuller............1888 - 1910................Cleveland
35. Justice David Brewer....................1890 - 1910.................Harrison, B
36. Justice Howell Jackson..................1893 - 1895................Harrison, B
37. Chief Justice Edward D. White........1894 - 1921................Cleveland/Taft
38. Justice Rufus Wheeler Peckham.....1896 - 1909................Cleveland
39. Justice Horace Lurton...................1910 - 1914................Taft
40. Justice Joseph R. Lamar................1911 - 1916................Taft
41. Justice Pierce Butler......................1923 - 1939................Harding
42. Justice Edward Terry Sanford.........1923 - 1930................Harding
43. Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone..........1924 - 1946................Coolidge/Roosevelt, F.
44. Justice Benjamin Cardozo..............1932 - 1938................Hoover
45. Justice Frank Murphy....................1940 - 1949................Roosevelt, F
46. Justice Robert H. Jackson..............1941 - 1954................Roosevelt, F
47. Justice Wiley Blount Rutledge........1943 - 1949................Roosevelt, F
48. Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson..........1946 - 1953................Truman
49. Chief Justice William Rehnquist......1972 - 2005................Nixon/Reagan

Answer 3

The Court consists of a Chief Justice and eight associate justices who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.