How it started
The U.S. Supreme Court was created in 1789 by Article IIIOne of seven articles in the U.S. Constitution. This is the one that sets up the federal court system, with the Supreme Court at the top of it. of the Constitution. John Jay served as the first Chief JusticeThe head of the Supreme Court — distinct from an Associate Justice, the title held by the Court’s other eight seats. Same one vote, but presides over the Court and assigns who writes each majority opinion., the Court’s leader.1
Article III never lists who’s allowed to hold the job — no age, citizenship, or gender requirement appears anywhere in it.1 It also never sets how many seats there are or how long a justice serves; the only line on that says judges “shall hold their Offices during good BehaviourThe Constitution’s actual wording for a judge’s term — no fixed length, no mandatory retirement age. In practice, it has always meant a seat for life unless a justice resigns or is impeached.,” which has always been read as a job for life. Congress fills in the rest by ordinary law: it set the Court at six justices in 1789, changed that number several times over the next century, and landed on today’s nine in 1869.5
When it finally happened
By 1981, when Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O'ConnorAssociate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1981–2006. Often the deciding “swing vote” on the Court during her tenure., 101 men had already held a seat on the Court and no woman had ever been nominated.2 No law or Court rule ever barred women from the seat — Article III’s silence on qualifications cut both ways, so unlike the era’s fights over voting or credit access, no statute had to be passed or repealed here; the seat had simply never gone to a woman.2 O’Connor graduated near the top of her class at Stanford Law, two spots behind her future colleague William RehnquistLater became Chief Justice of the United States, 1986–2005. Graduated at the top of the same Stanford Law class as O’Connor.. Despite that record, the only job offer she received from a California law firm afterward was for a position as a legal secretary.3
The Senate confirmedA president nominates a Supreme Court justice, but the Senate has to approve, or “confirm,” that choice before they can take the seat. A simple majority vote is enough. her 99–0 on September 21, 1981, and she was sworn in four days later as the first woman ever to serve as a Supreme Court Justice, 192 years after the Court’s creation.1
No female Chief Justice
No woman has ever served as Chief Justice. All seventeen people who have held that role since 1789 have been men. Each of the six women who have served on the Court, including O’Connor, has held the Associate Justice seat instead.4
Sources
National Archives
Confirms the Court's 1789 creation and O'Connor's 1981 swearing-in, 192 years later.
prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2018/08/17/first-woman-on-the-court-sandra-day-oconnorEBSCO Research Starters
Confirms 101 men held the seat before O'Connor and that no constitutional barrier ever existed.
www.ebsco.com/research-starters/womens-studies-and-feminism/oconnor-first-woman-serve-supreme-court-justiceBrennan Center for Justice
Documents O'Connor's Stanford Law class rank and the legal-secretary job offer she received instead of an attorney position.
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/supreme-court-demographic-firstsBest Student Guide (Buckfire Law)
Confirms, as of March 2026, that no woman has served as Chief Justice and only six women have ever served on the Court.
buckfirelaw.com/blog/supreme-court-justice-student-guideConstitution Annotated (Library of Congress)
Confirms Article III leaves the Court's size to Congress and that the number of seats was fixed at nine by 1869.
constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artIII-S1-8-3/ALDE_00013559This page is currently unsponsored. Sponsor this page →