U.S. Supreme Court Records

The United States federal court system has three tiers: the U.S. District Courts, which are the trial courts; the U.S. Courts of Appeal, which are the first levels of appeal; and the Supreme Court of the United States, which is the final level of appeal. There are 94 District Courts, 13 Courts of Appeal, and one Supreme Court across the entire country.

The U.S. Supreme Court is the highest court in the nation for all cases and controversies arising under the Constitution or the laws of the United States. The Supreme Court’s initial composition and procedures were established by the 1st Congress through the Judiciary Act of 1789, but have been changed and amended many times since. Currently, there is one Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court plays a vital role in the United States judicial system. The Court serves as the court of last resort for justice, ensures that each branch of government recognizes the limits of its own power, and “sets appropriate limits on democratic government by ensuring that popular majorities cannot pass laws that harm and/or take undue advantage of unpopular minorities.”

By law, the U.S. Supreme Court's term begins on the first Monday in October. Typically, the Court is in recess from late June or early July until the Sunday before the first Monday in October, when a new term begins.

Jurisdiction

Article III, Section II of the United States Constitution gives the Supreme Court original jurisdiction over suits between two or more states and/or cases involving ambassadors and other public ministers, as well as appellate jurisdiction on almost any other case that involves a point of constitutional and/or federal law.

The Certiorari Act of 1925 gives the Court the discretion to decide whether to exercise appellate jurisdiction. Under the Act, a party submits a petition for a writ of certiorari, asking the Court to review its case. The Court generally agrees to hear 100-150 of the more than 7,000 cases that it is asked to review every year.

In 1803, the case of Marbury v. Madison established the Supreme Court’s power of judicial review. The doctrine of judicial review gives the Court the power to determine if a statute, treaty, or administrative regulation contradicts or violates the provisions of existing law, a State Constitution, or the U.S. Constitution.

U.S. Supreme Court Justices

Supreme Court Associate Justices, like Court of Appeals and District Court judges, are nominated by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate, as required by the Constitution. The Chief Justice is also appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The Constitution states that Justices "shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour," meaning Justices remain on the Court until they decide to leave or are removed by impeachment.

The Judiciary Act of 1869 set the number of Supreme Court Justices at nine, where it has remained since. The Constitution does not contain any eligibility requirements for Supreme Court Justices. Currently, the nine Supreme Court Justices are:

John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice of the United States

The Hon. John G. Roberts, Jr., earned an A.B. from Harvard College in 1976 and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1979. He was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2003. In 2005, Roberts took his seat on the U.S. Supreme Court after President George W. Bush nominated him to be Chief Justice of the United States.

Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice

The Hon. Clarence Thomas received an A.B. from College of the Holy Cross in 1971 and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1974. From 1990–1991, he served as a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In 1991, President Bush nominated him as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court and he took his seat in October of that year.

Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Associate Justice

The Hon. Samuel A. Alito, Jr., received both his undergrad and law degrees from Princeton University. He was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 1990. President George W. Bush later nominated him as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and he took his seat January 31, 2006.

Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice

The Hon. Sonia Sotomayor earned a B.A. in 1976 from Princeton University, graduating summa cum laude, and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1979. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush nominated her to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and she served in that role from 1992–1998. President Bill Clinton nominated her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1997, where she served from 1998–2009. President Barack Obama nominated Sotomayor as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on May 26, 2009, and she assumed this role August 8, 2009.

Elena Kagan, Associate Justice

The Hon. Elena Kagan earned an A.B. from Princeton in 1981, an M. Phil. from Oxford in 1983, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1986. From 2003 to 2009, she served as the Dean of Harvard Law School. In 2009, President Obama nominated her as the Solicitor General of the United States. Just a year later, in 2010, President Obama nominated her as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court and she assumed her seat.

Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice

The Hon. Neil M. Gorsuch received a B.A. from Columbia University, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and a D.Phil. from Oxford University. He was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in 2006 and served on the Standing Committee on Rules for Practice and Procedure of the U.S. Judicial Conference and the Advisory Committee on Rules of Appellate Procedure. He took his seat as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 2017 after being nominated by President Donald J. Trump.

Brett M. Kavanaugh, Associate Justice

The Hon. Brett M. Kavanaugh received a B.A. from Yale College in 1987 and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1990. In 2006, he was appointed a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. President Donald J. Trump nominated him as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and he took his seat on October 6, 2018.

Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice

The Hon. Amy Coney Barrett received a B.A. from Rhodes College in 1994 and a J.D. from Notre Dame Law School in 1997. In 2017, she was appointed a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. In 2020, President Donald J. Trump nominated her as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court and she took her seat in October 2020.

Ketanji Brown Jackson, Associate Justice

The Hon. Ketanji Brown Jackson received an A.B. from Harvard-Radcliffe College in 1992, and a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1996. In 2012, President Barack Obama nominated her to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She served on the District Court from 2013 to 2021. In 2021, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., appointed her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2021. In 2022, President Biden nominated her as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court and she took her seat June 30, 2022.

1. A quorum of six Justices is required to decide a case.

2. The Supreme Court sat for the first time in its own building on October 7, 1935.

3. The only Justice to be impeached was Associate Justice Samuel Chase in 1805.

4. Landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases include McCulloch v. Maryland, Gibbons v. Ogden, Brown v. Board of Education, Obergefell v. Hodges, Roe v. Wade, and Dred Scott v. Sanford.

UniCourt is your single source for state and federal court records, offering comprehensive court coverage and the most complete and accurate dataset available.

With UniCourt, you can search for U.S. Supreme Court records online and get real-time access to a wide range of case types filed in the Supreme Court, as well as the underlying cases on appeal from state and federal trial courts. UniCourt tracks Supreme Court litigation so you don’t have to, and sends case alerts directly to your inbox to keep you informed on the latest SCOTUS filings and opinions. Further, UniCourt’s best-in-class data normalization leverages machine learning to identify exactly who the real-world attorneys, law firms, and parties are before the Court, so you can easily find any state and federal litigation connected to those parties and gain valuable insights into their litigation history.

UniCourt gives you access not only to court records from the U.S. Supreme Court, but also to many of the largest federal District Courts in the United States, including the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Additionally, UniCourt provides access to court records from the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts, including many of the busiest Bankruptcy Courts in the nation like the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida, and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California.

UniCourt also provides you with access to all court cases in the U.S. Court of Appeals:

• First Circuit Court of Appeals

• Second Circuit Court of Appeals

• Third Circuit Court of Appeals

• Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals

• Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals

• Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals

• Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals

• Eighth Circuit Court  of Appeals

• Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

• Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals

• Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals

• D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals

• Federal Circuit Court of Appeals

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