Currently, there are three retired Associate Justices: Sandra Day O ' Connor, who assumed senior status on January 31, 2006, David H. Souter, who assumed senior status on June 29, 2009, and John Paul Stevens, who assumed senior status on June 29, 2010.

Because Justice John Paul Stevens had recused himself, only eight Justices heard the case, and it ended in a 4 – 4 tie.

Sir John Popham was Lord Chief Justice, Sir Thomas Fleming was Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and two Justices, Sir Thomas Walmsley and Sir Peter Warburton, sat as Justices of the Common Pleas.

Locke's father, also called John, was a country lawyer and clerk to the Justices of the Peace in Chew Magna, who had served as a captain of cavalry for the Parliamentarian forces during the early part of the English Civil War.

Use of the previous title when referring to Chief Justices John Jay through Roger B. Taney is technically correct, as that was the legal title during their time on the Court, but the newer title is frequently used retroactively for all Chief Justices.

Most Chief Justices, including John Roberts, have been nominated to the highest position on the Court without any previous experience on the Supreme Court ; indeed some, such as Earl Warren, received confirmation despite having no prior judicial experience.

Justices John Paul Stevens and Sandra Day O ' Connor wrote the majority opinion ; they were joined by David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer, and opposed by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, and Antonin Scalia.

The Court has had three Chief Justices to date, Elizabeth Evatt AC, Alastair Nicholson and Diana Bryant QC ( Formerly Chief Federal Magistrate, appointed to current role in 2004 The Deputy Chief Justice is John Faulks ( appointed as a Judge in 1994 and to his current position in 2004 ).

The town's Justices of the Peace in 1831 were Parker Merrill, George W. Pillsbury, Benning Leavitt, John Palmer and A.

The presiding Justices for the Town are the Honorable John Kohler and the Honorable Walter Klyczek.

When Sir John Croke, suspected in engaging in a conspiracy, sent him some sugar loaves to excuse his absence from a case, Hale remarked that " I cannot think that Sir John believes that the King's Justices come into the country to take bribes.

Similarly, John Campbell in his Lives of the Chief Justices of England, wrote that Hale was " one of the most pure, the most pious, the most independent, and the most learned " of judges.

In a 4 to 1 decision, the Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, with Chief Justice John Jay and Associate Justices John Blair, James Wilson, and William Cushing constituting the majority ; only Justice Iredell dissented.

John Campbell, in his The Lives of the Chief Justices of England, said that " His reasoning ... is narrow minded ; had utter contempt for method and style in his compositions ", and says that Coke's Reports were " tinctured with quaintness and pedantry ".

Some 149 sitting United States federal judges are Harvard Law School graduates ; six of the nine sitting justices of the Supreme Court of the United States attended the law school ( Chief Justice John G. Roberts and Associate Justices Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia and Elena Kagan ).

Six of the current nine members of the court attended HLS: Chief Justice John Roberts, and Associate Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan, who also served as the Dean of Harvard Law School from 2003 to 2009.

William Rehnquist, Byron White, Harry Blackmun, John Paul Stevens, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas — the six Justices who did not join the plurality opinion — wrote or joined opinions in which they partially concurred and partially dissented from the decision.

Among them are Owen Roberts ( US Supreme Court Justice ), James Harry Covington ( Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia ), Daniel John Layton ( Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court ), Robert Nelson Cornelius Nix, Jr., Horace Stern and George Sharswood ( Chief Justices of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ), and Deborah Tobias Poritz ( Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court ).

* Frank, John P., The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions ( Leon Friedman and Fred L. Israel, editors ).

Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the majority opinion and was joined by Justices William J. Brennan, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Harry Blackmun, and Lewis Powell.

Though no official vote was taken, Justice Black and Chief Justice Burger wanted to reverse McMillan ’ s order, while Justices Douglas, Harlan, Brennan and Marshall wanted a strong affirmation of the order ; Justices White, Stewart and Blackmun did not express a strong feeling either way.

Justices Brennan, White, Marshall and Blackmun concluded in one plurality opinion that race could be used as a factor when it was for the purpose of remedying substantial chronic underrepresentation of certain minorities in the medical profession.

Justices Brennan, Marshall, Blackmun, and White, however, disagreed with a rigid and literal interpretation of Title VI.

It was the first case that provided an opportunity to overturn Roe since the two liberal Justices, William Brennan and Thurgood Marshall, were replaced with the Bush-appointed Justices David Souter and Clarence Thomas.

" Justice Blackmun, joined by Justices Brennan, Marshall, and Stevens, dissented, citing that " his case is no more about a fundamental right to engage in homosexual sodomy ," as the Court purports to declare, ante at 191, that Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U. S. 557 ( 1969 ), was about a fundamental right to watch obscene movies, or Katz v. United States, 389 U. S. 347 ( 1967 ), was about a fundamental right to place interstate bets from a telephone booth.

Justice Stevens, with whom Justices Brennan and Marshall joined in dissent, dissented further from the majority opinion: " the Court orders the dismissal of respondent's complaint even though the State's statute prohibits all sodomy ; even though that prohibition is concededly unconstitutional with respect to heterosexuals ; and even though the State's post hoc explanations for selective application are belied by the State's own actions.

Chief Justice Warren E. Burger wrote the opinion for a unanimous court, joined by Justices William O. Douglas, William J. Brennan, Potter Stewart, Byron White, Thurgood Marshall, Harry Blackmun and Lewis F. Powell.

Only Justices Brennan and Marshall believed the death penalty to be unconstitutional in all instances.

* Justices Brennan and Marshall concurred on the grounds that the death penalty was " cruel and unusual punishment " proscribed by the Eighth Amendment as incompatible with the evolving standards of decency of a contemporary society.

Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote a dissenting opinion, which was joined by Justices White and Day.

In 1997, Snepp gained access to the files of Justices Thurgood Marshall ( who had already died ) and William Brennan ( who voluntarily granted Snepp access ) and confirmed his suspicion that Powell had been the author of the per curiam opinion.

In both cases, William J. Brennan wrote the majority opinion, joined by Thurgood Marshall, Harry Blackmun, Antonin Scalia, and Anthony Kennedy ( Kennedy also authored a separate concurrence in Johnson ), and the dissenters in both cases were then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist ( who authored a dissent in Johnson ), and Justices John Paul Stevens ( who authored dissents in both cases ), Byron White and Sandra Day O ' Connor.

Justices Marshall, Blackmun, Scalia, and Kennedy joined Brennan, with Kennedy also writing a concurrence.

Former residents have included former Police Chief Charles Ramsey, Hubert Humphrey, Marvin Gaye, and former Supreme Court Associate Justices Lewis F. Powell, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, and David Souter.

Justices Brennan and Marshall expressed their views, which they also articulated in Furman, that the death penalty does not deter crime and that our society has evolved to the point that it is no longer an appropriate vehicle for expressing retribution.

A plurality of the Court ( Justices Douglas, White, Marshall and Brennan, who wrote the plurality's opinion ) found the military's benefit policy unconstitutional, because there was no reason why military wives needed benefits any more than similarly situated military husbands.

Justice William J. Brennan delivered the opinion of the Court, in which he was joined by Justices White, Marshall, Powell and Stevens ( Justice Blackmun joined all but one part of the opinion ; Blackmun, Powell, Stevens, and Stewart wrote concurrences ).

Justice Blackmun wrote the opinion for the court and Justices Marshall, Stevens, O ' Connor, and Souter joined.

" Justices William J. Brennan and Harry Blackmun delivered concurring opinions, while Thurgood Marshall and John Paul Stevens dissented.

Prominent members of the Court during the Warren era besides the Chief Justice included Justices William J. Brennan, Jr., William O. Douglas, Hugo Black, Felix Frankfurter, and John Marshall Harlan II.

Joined by Chief Justice Melville Fuller and Associate Justices Steophen Johnson Field, John Marshall Harlan, Horace Gray, Henry Billings Brown, George Shiras, Jr., Howell Edmunds Jackson, and Edward Douglass White, the court ruled that the government had a right to regulate interstate commerce and ensure the operations of the Postal Service, along with a responsibility to " ensure the general welfare of the public.