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Supreme Court Justices Without Prior Judicial Experience Before Becoming Justices

Name of Justice Prior Occupations Years On Court Appointed By President:
Elena Kagan U.S. Solicitor General 2010-present Obama
William Rehnquist Asst. U.S. Attorney General 1972-2005 Nixon (Assoc., 1972),
Reagan (Chief, 1986)
Lewis Powell President of the American Bar Ass'n,
Private Practice
1972-1987 Nixon
Abe Fortas Private Practice 1965-1969 Johnson
Byron White Deputy U.S. Attorney General 1962-1993 Kennedy
Arthur Goldberg U.S. Secretary of Labor 1962-1965 Kennedy
Earl Warren Governor of California 1953-1969 Eisenhower
Tom Clark U.S. Attorney General 1949-1967 Truman
Harold Burton U.S. Senator 1945-1958 Truman
Robert Jackson U.S. Attorney General 1941-1954 F. Roosevelt
James Francis Byrnes U.S. Senator 1941-1942 F. Roosevelt
William O. Douglas Chairman of the S.E.C. 1939-1975 F. Roosevelt
Felix Frankfurter Asst. U.S. Attorney, Asst. Secretary of War,
Prof. of Law at Harvard
1939-1962 F. Roosevelt
Stanley Forman Reed U.S. Solicitor General 1938-1957 F. Roosevelt
Owen Josephus Roberts Special Counsel in "Teapot Dome" investigation and trials 1930-1945 Hoover
Harlan Fiske Stone U.S. Attorney General 1925-1946 Coolidge (Assoc., 1925),
F. Roosevelt (Chief, 1941)
Pierce Butler County Attorney, Private Practice 1923-1939 Harding
George Sutherland U.S. Senator 1922-1938 Harding
Louis Brandeis Private Practice 1916-1939 Wilson
James Clark McReynolds U.S. Attorney General 1914-1941 Wilson
Charles Evans Hughes Governor of New York,
U.S. Secretary of State
1910-1916,
1930-1941
Taft (Assoc., 1910),
Hoover (Chief, 1930)
William Henry Moody U.S. Attorney General 1906-1910 T. Roosevelt
George Shiras, Jr Private Practice 1892-1903 Harrison
Melville Fuller Private Practice 1888-1910 Cleveland
Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar U.S. Secretary of the Interior, U.S. Senator 1888-1893 Cleveland
Joseph Philo Bradley Private Practice 1870-1892 Grant
Salmon P. Chase U.S. Treasury Secretary 1864-1873 Lincoln
Samuel Freeman Miller Private Practice 1862-1890 Lincoln
Noah Haynes Swayne U.S. Attorney for Ohio, Ohio Legislator 1862-1881 Lincoln
Nathan Clifford Maine & U.S. Attorney General 1858-1881 Buchanan
John Archibald Campbell Alabama Legislator 1853-1861 Pierce
Benjamin Robbins Curtis Massachusetts Legislator 1851-1857 Fillmore
John McKinley U.S. Senator 1838-1852 Van Buren
Roger Brooke Taney Maryland & U.S. Attorney General,
U.S. Treasury Secretary
1836-1864 Jackson
Henry Baldwin U.S. Congressman 1830-1844 Jackson
Joseph Story Speaker of Mass. House of Reps., U.S. Congressman 1812-1845 Madison
John Marshall U.S. Secretary of State 1801-1835 Adams
Bushrod Washington Virginia House of Delegates,
Reporter for Virginia Court of Appeals
1799-1829 Adams
William Paterson Governor of New Jersey 1793-1806 Washington
John Jay President of the Continental Congress,
U.S. Secretary of Foreign Affairs
1789-1795 Washington
John Rutledge Governor of South Carolina 1789-1791, 1795 Washington

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