Elena Kagan was sworn in as the country’s 112th Supreme Court justice after being confirmed by the Senate with a vote of 63-37 last week. This is the first time three female Supreme Court justices have served at the same time, as Kagan joins Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg for the fall term in October.
Want to know more about the Supreme Court? Check out the fun facts below!
- Youngest justice appointed: Joseph Story (age 32)
- Oldest justice appointed: Horace Lurton (age 65)
- Oldest justice to serve: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (stepped down at age 90)
- Shortest term as chief justice: John Rutledge (4 months, 3 days)
- Shortest tenure in the court: Thomas Johnson (5 months, 10 days – associate justice)
- Longest term: William O. Douglas (36 years, 209 days)
- First Catholic justice: Roger B. Taney
- First Jewish justice: Louis Brandeis
- First African-American justice: Thurgood Marshall
- First woman justice: Sandra Day O’Connor
- First Hispanic justice: Sonia Sotomayor
- President to appoint the most justices: George Washington (11)
- President to appoint the most justices in the 20th century: Franklin Roosevelt (9)
