A state court of last resort / Established 1902

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

Harrisburg · A court of last resort in Pennsylvania.

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in Pennsylvania. Its justices are chosen by partisan election. This page lists every justice to serve on the court, current and former, with when they joined the bench and whom they succeeded.

Justices in history

Currently serving

Partisan

Selection

10-yr

Term

Current justices

Justice	Since
Thomas G. Saylor	1998
J. Michael Eakin	2002
Max Baer	2004
Debra Todd	2008

Former justices

Justice	Years
Joan Orie Melvin	2010–2013
Jane Cutler Greenspan	2008–2009
Seamus P. McCaffery	2008–2014
James J. Fitzgerald	2007–2008
Cynthia A. Baldwin	2006–2008
William H. Lamb	2003–2004
Sandra Schultz Newman	1996–2006
Russell M. Nigro	1996–2006
Ronald D. Castille	1994–2014
Frank J. Montemuro	1992–1993
Ralph J. Cappy	1990–2008
Juanita Kidd Stout	1988–1989
Nicholas P. Papadakos	1984–1996
Stephen A. Zappala	1983–2002
William D. Hutchinson	1982–1995
James T. McDermott	1982–1992
Roy Wilkinson Jr.	1981–1982
Bruce William Kauffman	1980–1982
John P. Flaherty	1979–2001
Rolf Larsen	1978–1994
Israel Packel	1977–1978
Louis L. Manderino	1972–1979
Robert N.C. Nix Jr.	1972–1996
Alexander F. Barbieri	1971–1972
Thomas W. Pomeroy	1968–1979
Samuel J. Roberts	1963–1983
Earl S. Keim	1962–1963
Henry X. O'Brien	1962–1983
Anne X. Alpern	1961–1961
Michael J. Eagen	1960–1980
Curtis Bok	1959–1962
Thomas D. McBride	1958–1959
Herbert B. Cohen	1957–1970
Benjamin R. Jones	1957–1978
John C. Arnold	1953–1958
Michael A. Musmanno	1952–1968
John C. Bell Jr.	1950–1972
Thomas McKeen Chidsey	1950–1958
Grover C. Ladner	1950–1951
Charles Alvin Jones	1945–1966
Howard W. Hughes	1943–1945
Allen M. Stearne	1942–1956
William M. Parker	1941–1943
Marion D. Patterson	1940–1950
Horace Stern	1936–1956
H. Edgar Barnes	1935–1940
William B. Linn	1932–1950
James B. Drew	1931–1952
George W. Maxey	1930–1950
Sylvester B. Sadler	1921–1931
William I. Schaffer	1921–1943
John W. Kephart	1919–1940
Alexander Simpson Jr.	1919–1935
Edward J. Fox	1918–1918
Emory A. Walling	1916–1931
Robert S. Frazer	1915–1936
Robert von Moschzisker	1910–1930
John P. Elkin	1905–1912
John Stewart	1905–1906
William P. Potter	1902–1903

How a justice reaches this court. Justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania are chosen in partisan elections to 10-year terms and then face yes-or-no retention elections. Justices are first chosen in partisan elections, then face uncontested yes-or-no retention elections for each additional 10-year term. Selection methods vary by jurisdiction and have changed over time; this page reflects the court’s current method (source: National Center for State Courts). Open any justice to see their tenure and whom they succeeded.

Source: CourtListener / Free Law Project; selection method from the National Center for State Courts. Data last verified 2026-06-30. Verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).