The first Supreme Court had six justices: one Chief Justice and five Associate Justices. Congress set that number in the Judiciary Act of 1789, which President Washington signed on September 24 of that year. Six held for over a decade before Congress began adjusting the size, and the total eventually settled at nine in 1869.
Why Congress Chose Six
Article III of the Constitution created “one supreme Court” but said nothing about how many people should sit on it.1Constitution Annotated. Constitution of the United States – Article III That decision was left to Congress. The Judiciary Act of 1789 filled the gap directly: “the supreme court of the United States shall consist of a chief justice and five associate justices, any four of whom shall be a quorum.”2GovInfo. 1 Stat 73 – An Act to Establish the Judicial Courts of the United States Setting the quorum at four let the court keep working when two justices were absent, which mattered in an era when travel to the capital could take weeks.
Six also fit the geography of the job. The same act divided the country into thirteen districts and grouped them into three circuits: eastern, middle, and southern.3Yale Law School. The Judiciary Act, September 24, 1789 Justices were required to ride circuit twice a year, and six justices meant two per circuit.
Who the Six Justices Were
President Washington nominated all six, and the Senate confirmed them quickly. John Jay of New York, already known as a diplomat and co-author of the Federalist Papers, became the first Chief Justice and took his oath on October 19, 1789.4U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. The History of the Supreme Court of the United States
The five Associate Justice seats went to John Rutledge of South Carolina, William Cushing of Massachusetts, James Wilson of Pennsylvania, John Blair of Virginia, and initially Robert Hanson Harrison of Maryland. Harrison never served. He had been Washington’s personal secretary during the Revolutionary War and was serving as Maryland’s chief justice, and he declined the appointment because of poor health. Washington persuaded him to reconsider, but Harrison fell ill on the journey to New York and declined a second time.
Washington then nominated James Iredell of North Carolina, whom the Senate confirmed on February 10, 1790.5Federal Judicial Center. Iredell, James At 38, Iredell was the youngest member of the first bench, and his confirmation gave the court its full complement of six.
How the Number Changed After 1789
Six was not permanent. Because the Constitution left the court’s size to Congress, lawmakers adjusted it six times before landing on nine.6Supreme Court of the United States. The Court as an Institution The changes were rarely just about caseload.
In 1801, outgoing Federalists in Congress voted to shrink the court to five at the next vacancy, hoping to deny Thomas Jefferson an appointment. Jefferson’s allies repealed the law before any vacancy opened, so the court stayed at six.7Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service. Legislative Control Over the Size of the Supreme Court Congress later added seats as the country grew and new circuits were created, reaching ten justices during the Civil War. After the war, Congress reduced the court to keep President Andrew Johnson from filling vacancies, then fixed the number at nine in the Judiciary Act of 1869.
Nine has held since. It was tested in 1937, when President Franklin Roosevelt proposed adding up to six justices after the court struck down New Deal programs. The plan failed in Congress and cost Roosevelt considerable political standing.8Federal Judicial Center. FDR’s Court-Packing Plan Federal law still reads as it has since 1869: “The Supreme Court of the United States shall consist of a Chief Justice of the United States and eight associate justices, any six of whom shall constitute a quorum.”9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1 – Number of Justices and Quorum