# Supreme Court of the United States *Highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States* The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) stands at the top of the federal judiciary.[^1] Its appellate jurisdiction is final over cases in the federal courts and over state-court cases that turn on the federal Constitution or on federal law.[^1] Its original jurisdiction reaches a narrow class of cases, including those "in which a State shall be Party".[^1] The 1st Congress, acting under Article Three of the Constitution, set the court's composition and procedures in the Judiciary Act of 1789.[^1] Nine justices now serve: the chief justice of the United States and eight associate justices.[^1] Each holds lifetime tenure, and when a seat falls vacant the president fills it with the advice and consent of the Senate.[^1] Since 1803 the court has claimed the power of judicial review, under which it may void a statute that violates the Constitution. It may also set aside presidential directives that conflict with the Constitution or with statute.[^1] Of roughly 7,000 petitions for certiorari filed in an average year, it grants about 80.[^1] ## History The 1787 Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia four years after the Revolutionary War ended.[^2] Its delegates debated how power would be divided between the legislative and executive departments, and they set out parameters for a national judiciary as a third branch.[^2] Delegates who opposed a strong central government argued that state courts could enforce national laws. James Madison and others favored a national judicial authority chosen by the national legislature.[^2] The framers' compromise in Article Three gave only an outline. It vested federal judicial power in "one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish," and it did not delineate the court's powers or the organization of the judicial branch.[^2] The Judiciary Act of 1789 supplied that organization. It placed the court in the national capital with a chief justice and five associate justices.[^2] It divided the country into judicial districts grouped into circuits, and it required each justice to hold circuit court in an assigned district twice a year.[^2] ## Composition ### Nomination, confirmation, and appointment The Appointments Clause, Article II, Section 2, Clause 2, gives the president plenary power to nominate justices. It gives the [[United States Senate]] plenary power to confirm or reject them.[^3] The Constitution sets no qualification of age, citizenship, residence or prior judicial experience. The Senate cannot impose qualifications, but it may refuse to confirm a nominee it judges unqualified or unsuitable.[^3] The Senate Judiciary Committee holds hearings and votes on whether to send a nomination to the full Senate with a positive, negative or neutral report.[^3] In 1925 Harlan Fiske Stone became the first nominee to appear before the committee. Questioning in its modern form dates from John Marshall Harlan II in 1955.[^3] After the committee reports, the full Senate takes up the nomination, and outright rejections are uncommon.[^3] ## Membership ### Sitting justices Chief Justice [[John Roberts]] presides over eight associate justices.[^4] As of October 26, 2026, [[Clarence Thomas]] had served longest, at 35 years and 3 days.[^4] The newest member, [[Ketanji Brown Jackson]], was confirmed by the Senate on April 7, and her tenure began on June 30, 2022.[^4] Eight of the nine justices received a Juris Doctor from an Ivy League law school.[^4] [[Neil Gorsuch]], Jackson, [[Elena Kagan]] and Roberts earned theirs at Harvard, and [[Samuel Alito]] is among the others.[^4] Three justices are from New York and two from Washington, D.C. One each is from New Jersey, Georgia, Colorado and Louisiana.[^4] ## Facilities The court first sat on February 1, 1790, in the Merchants' Exchange Building in New York City.[^5] While Philadelphia was the capital, the court sat briefly in Independence Hall and then in Old City Hall from 1791 until 1800.[^5] In Washington, D.C., it used a succession of rooms in the Capitol until 1935.[^5] That year it moved into a four-story, marble-clad building of its own, designed by [[Cass Gilbert]], at One First Street NE across from the United States Capitol.[^5] The building falls under the Architect of the Capitol, but the court keeps its own Supreme Court Police, separate from the Capitol Police.[^5] Oral arguments are open to the public. They are held on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays in two-week intervals from October to late April, and one estimate puts public seating at about 250.[^5] ## Jurisdiction Article III authorizes Congress to regulate the court's appellate jurisdiction.[^6] The court's original jurisdiction is exclusive in cases between two or more states, which it may decline to hear.[^6] It is original but not exclusive in controversies between the United States and a state, in actions by a state against citizens of another state or against aliens, and in proceedings to which foreign ambassadors, other public ministers, consuls or vice consuls are parties.[^6] In *United States v. Shipp* (1906), the court used its original jurisdiction to try individuals for contempt.[^6] The case followed the lynching of Ed Johnson in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on the evening after Justice [[John Marshall Harlan]] granted Johnson a stay of execution so that his lawyers could file an appeal.[^6] According to the account, the local [[sheriff]], John Shipp, left the jail virtually unguarded, and he cited the court's intervention as the rationale for the lynching.[^6] The court appointed its deputy clerk as special master to preside over the trial in Chattanooga, and closing arguments were heard by the justices in Washington.[^6] The justices found nine individuals guilty of contempt. They sentenced three to 90 days in jail and the rest to 60 days.[^6] The proceeding remains the only contempt proceeding and the only criminal trial in the court's history.[^6] ## Process Nearly all cases arrive by petition for a writ of certiorari.[^7] By that route the court may review any civil or criminal case from the federal courts of appeals. It may also review a final judgment of a state's highest court where that judgment involves a question of federal statutory or constitutional law.[^7] Cases may also come as direct appeals from three-judge federal district courts, or as questions certified by the courts of appeals themselves.[^7] The party seeking review is the petitioner and the other party is the respondent. Cases are captioned petitioner v. respondent no matter who began the suit, so *State of Arizona v. Ernesto Miranda* became *Miranda v. Arizona* on certiorari.[^7] The court takes the facts from the record built by the lower courts and decides how the law applies to them.[^7] Each justice casts one vote.[^1] When the chief justice is in the majority, the chief justice assigns the opinion of the court. Otherwise the most senior justice in the majority makes the assignment. Any justice may write a concurrence or a dissent, and other justices may join it.[^1] ## Institutional powers The Constitution nowhere mentions judicial review.[^8] The federal courts also received little attention in the debates over drafting and ratification.[^8] In *Federalist No. 78*, Alexander Hamilton wrote that the Constitution "must be regarded by the judges, as a fundamental law". He added that where a statute and the Constitution are irreconcilable, "the Constitution ought to be preferred to the statute."[^8] In *Marbury v. Madison* (1803), the court established its own power to declare laws unconstitutional.[^8] Chief Justice [[John Marshall]] reasoned that interpreting the law is the particular province of the courts, as part of the judicial department's duty to say what the law is.[^8] ## Law clerks Associate justices may hire four law clerks and the chief justice may hire five. Chief Justice [[William Rehnquist]] hired three a year, and Roberts usually hires four.[^9] Clerks generally serve one to two years.[^9] Associate Justice [[Horace Gray]] hired the first clerk in 1882.[^9] [[Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.]] and [[Louis Brandeis]] were the first justices to take recent law graduates as clerks.[^9] From 1882 to 1940, 62% of clerks were graduates of Harvard Law School.[^9] Ten justices had clerked for earlier justices. They include [[Byron White]] for Frederick M. Vinson, [[John Paul Stevens]] for [[Wiley Rutledge]], Rehnquist for [[Robert H. Jackson]], [[Stephen Breyer]] for [[Arthur Goldberg]], Roberts for Rehnquist, and Kagan for [[Thurgood Marshall]].[^9] ## Concerns and criticism Public approval of the court stood around 66% in the late 1980s.[^10] It averaged around 40% between mid-2021 and February 2024.[^10] Critics cited in the account attribute the decline to several factors: lifetime tenure, the court's power relative to the elected branches, the difficulty of amending the Constitution, national political polarization, ethics scandals, and particular rulings such as *Dobbs v. Jackson* and *Bush v. Gore*.[^10] After the 2022 *Dobbs* ruling overturned *Roe v. Wade*, Democrats and independents increasingly lost trust in the court and expressed support for reforming it.[^10] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Supreme Court of the United States*, lead section (revision 1381462654, retrieved 2026-10-26) — jurisdiction, the Judiciary Act of 1789, nine justices and lifetime tenure, judicial review asserted in 1803, opinion assignment, certiorari figures. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States [^2]: Wikipedia contributors, *Supreme Court of the United States*, "History" section (retrieved 2026-10-26) — the 1787 Convention, the Article Three text, and the Judiciary Act of 1789. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States [^3]: Wikipedia contributors, *Supreme Court of the United States*, "Composition" section (retrieved 2026-10-26) — the Appointments Clause, Senate confirmation and the Judiciary Committee's hearings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States [^4]: Wikipedia contributors, *Supreme Court of the United States*, "Membership" section (retrieved 2026-10-26) — sitting justices, tenure figures as of October 26, 2026, law schools and home states. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States [^5]: Wikipedia contributors, *Supreme Court of the United States*, "Facilities" section (retrieved 2026-10-26) — the first sitting on February 1, 1790, earlier meeting places, the 1935 building, police and public access. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States [^6]: Wikipedia contributors, *Supreme Court of the United States*, "Jurisdiction" section (retrieved 2026-10-26) — appellate and original jurisdiction; *United States v. Shipp* (1906). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States [^7]: Wikipedia contributors, *Supreme Court of the United States*, "Process" section (retrieved 2026-10-26) — certiorari, direct appeals, certification and case captions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States [^8]: Wikipedia contributors, *Supreme Court of the United States*, "Institutional powers" section (retrieved 2026-10-26) — judicial review, *Federalist No. 78*, and *Marbury v. Madison* (1803). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States [^9]: Wikipedia contributors, *Supreme Court of the United States*, "Law clerks" section (retrieved 2026-10-26) — clerk allotments, the first clerk in 1882, Harvard share 1882–1940, and justices who clerked. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States [^10]: Wikipedia contributors, *Supreme Court of the United States*, "Concerns and criticism" section (retrieved 2026-10-26) — approval ratings from the late 1980s to February 2024 and the factors critics cite. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States