Records & Rankings

Longest-serving Supreme Court justices

Ranked by years on the Court, from first commission to departure (or today, for sitting justices). Retirement / senior status ends the count.

#	Name	Detail	Years
1	William Orville Douglas	Roosevelt (D), 1939	36
2	Hugo Lafayette Black	Roosevelt (D), 1937	34
3	Stephen Johnson Field	Lincoln (R), 1863	34
4	John Marshall	Adams (N), 1801	34
5	John Paul Stevens	Ford (R), 1975	34
6	Clarence Thomas	Bush (R), 1991	34
7	William Joseph Brennan Jr.	Eisenhower (R), 1957	33
8	John Marshall Harlan	Hayes (R), 1877	33
9	William Hubbs Rehnquist	Nixon (R), 1971	33
10	Joseph Story	Madison (N), 1811	33
11	John McLean	Jackson (D), 1829	32
12	James Moore Wayne	Jackson (D), 1835	32
13	Charles Evans Hughes	Taft (R), 1910	31
14	Byron Raymond White	Kennedy (D), 1962	31
15	William Johnson Jr.	Jefferson (N), 1804	30
16	Anthony McLeod Kennedy	Reagan (R), 1988	30
17	Bushrod Washington	Adams (N), 1798	30
18	Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.	Roosevelt (R), 1902	29
19	Antonin Scalia	Reagan (R), 1986	29
20	John Catron	Jackson (D), 1837	28
21	Samuel Freeman Miller	Lincoln (R), 1862	28
22	Roger Brooke Taney	Jackson (D), 1836	28
23	Stephen Gerald Breyer	Clinton (D), 1994	27
24	Ruth Bader Ginsburg	Clinton (D), 1993	27
25	Samuel Nelson	Tyler (N), 1845	27

Computed from the FJC Biographical Directory. Data last verified 2026-06-28. Verify against the primary source before relying.