List of justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

Following is a list of justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, including justices of the Provincial Court.

Mural on the wall of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's chambers in the Pennsylvania State Capitol

Current Bench

Name	Born	Elected	Party When First Elected	Retention	Year of Next Retention Election	Reaches Age 75	Prior Positions and Education
Thomas G. Saylor Chief Justice	December 14, 1946 in Somerset County, Pennsylvania	1997	Republican	2007, 2017	Final term	December 14, 2021	Judge, Superior Court of Pennsylvania (1993–1997); Private Practice (1987–1993); First Deputy Attorney General, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1983–1987); Director, Pennsylvania Bureau of Consumer Protection (1982–1983); First Assistant District Attorney, Somerset County (1973–1976); Private Practice (1972–1982); J.D., Columbia Law School (1972); B.A., University of Virginia (1969).
Max Baer	December 24, 1947 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	2003	Democratic	2013	Final term	December 24, 2022	Judge, Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas (1989–2003); Private Practice (1980–1989); Deputy Attorney General, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1975–1979); J.D., Duquesne University School of Law (1975); B.A., University of Pittsburgh (1971).
Debra Todd	October 15, 1957 in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania	2007	Democratic	2017	2027	October 15, 2032	Judge, Superior Court of Pennsylvania (2000–2007); Private Practice (1982–1999); J.D., University of Pittsburgh School of Law (1982); B.A., Chatham College (1979).
Christine Donohue	December 24, 1952 in Coaldale, Pennsylvania	2015	Democratic	First term	2025	December 24, 2027	Judge, Superior Court of Pennsylvania (2008–2015); Private Practice, (1980–2007); J.D., Duquesne University School of Law (1980); B.A., East Stroudsburg University (1974).
Kevin Dougherty	May 19, 1962 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	2015	Democratic	First term	2025	May 19, 2037	Judge, Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas (2001–2016); Private Practice, (1995–2001); Assistant District Attorney, Philadelphia County (1990–1995);J.D., Antioch School of Law (1987); B.A., Temple University (1985).
David Wecht	May 20, 1962 in Baltimore, Maryland[1]	2015	Democratic	First term	2025	May 20, 2037	Judge, Superior Court of Pennsylvania (2012–2015); Judge, Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas (2003–2012); Register of Wills and Clerk of Orphans' Court, Allegheny County; Law Clerk, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Judge George MacKinnon; J.D., Yale Law School (1987); B.A., Yale University (1984).
Sallie Updyke Mundy	June 29, 1962 in Elmira, New York	2017 [note 1]	Republican	First term	2027	June 29, 2037	Judge, Superior Court of Pennsylvania (2010–2016); Private Practice (1988-2009); Volunteer Public Defender, Public Defender's Office of Tioga County; Law Clerk, Tioga County Court of Common Pleas (1987-1988); J.D., University of Pittsburgh School of Law (1987); B.A., Washington and Jefferson College (1984).

1. Sallie Mundy was nominated to fill a vacancy by Governor Tom Wolf and confirmed by the PA Senate in 2016. She was elected to a full term in 2017.

Previous Chief Justices

• Capt. William Crispin, appointed Chief Justice by William Penn in 1684 but died at sea on the way to Philadelphia.
• Dr. Nicholas More, Chief Justice 1684
• William Clarke, 1684,[2] Chief Justice 1703
• Arthur Cooke, 1685, Chief Justice 1686
• John Simcock, 1686, Chief Justice 1690
• Joseph Growden, 1690, Chief Justice 1707
• John Guest, Chief Justice 1701
• John Guest, 1704, Chief Justice 1705
• Roger Mompesson, Chief Justice 1706
• David Lloyd, Chief Justice 1717
• Jeremiah Langhorne, 1726, Chief Justice 1739
• James Logan, Chief Justice 1731
• William Allen, Chief Justice 1750
• Benjamin Chew, Chief Justice 1774
• Thomas McKean, appointed Chief Justice 1777, elected 1784 and 1791
• Edward Shippen IV, 1791, Chief Justice 1799
• William Bradford Jr., 1791
• William Tilghman, Chief Justice 1806
• John Bannister Gibson, 1816, Chief Justice 1838
• Jeremiah S. Black, Chief Justice 1851
• Ellis Lewis, 1851, Chief Justice 1855
• Walter H. Lowrie, 1851, Chief Justice 1857
• George W. Woodward, 1852, Chief Justice 1863
• James Thompson, 1857, Chief Justice 1867
• John M. Read, 1858, Chief Justice 1872
• Daniel Agnew, 1863, Chief Justice 1873
• George Sharswood, 1867, Chief Justice 1879
• Ulysses Mercur, 1872, Chief Justice 1883
• Isaac G. Gordon, 1873, Chief Justice 1887
• Edward M. Paxson, 1875, Chief Justice 1889
• James P. Sterrett, 1877, Chief Justice 1893
• Henry Green, 1879, Chief Justice 1900
• J. Brewster McCollum, 1888, Chief Justice 1900
• James T. Mitchell, 1888, Chief Justice 1903
• D. Newlin Fell, 1894, Chief Justice 1910
• J. Hay Brown, 1899, Chief Justice 1915
• Robert von Moschzisker, 1910, Chief Justice 1921
• Robert S. Frazer, 1915, Chief Justice 1930
• John W. Kephart, 1919, Chief Justice 1936
• William I. Schaffer, 1920, Chief Justice 1940
• George W. Maxey, 1930, Chief Justice 1943
• James B. Drew, 1931, Chief Justice 1950
• Horace Stern, 1936, Chief Justice 1952
• Charles Alvin Jones, 1945, Chief Justice 1956
• John C. Bell Jr., 1950, Chief Justice 1961
• Benjamin R. Jones, 1957, Chief Justice 1972
• Michael J. Eagen, 1960, Chief Justice 1977
• Henry X. O'Brien, 1962, Chief Justice 1980
• Samuel J. Roberts, Chief Justice 1983
• Robert N. C. Nix Jr., 1972, Chief Justice 1986
• John P. Flaherty Jr., 1979, Chief Justice 1996
• Stephen A. Zappala, 1983, Chief Justice 2002
• Ralph J. Cappy, 1990, Chief Justice 2003
• Ronald D. Castille, 1994, Chief Justice 2008

Previous Other Justices

Justice	Assumed office	Elected/Appointed by	Left office
Anthony Morris	August 10, 1694[2]
Edward Shippen	1699[2]
Caleb Pusey	June 20, 1701[2]
William Trent	April 10, 1704[2]
Richard Hill	March 16, 1711[2]
Thomas Graeme	April 9, 1731[2]
Thomas Griffitts	August 13, 1739[2]
Thomas Willing	September 14, 1767[2]
John Morton	April 20, 1774[2]
William Augustus Atlee	April 2, 1777[2]
John Evans	August 19, 1777[2]
George Bryan	April 5, 1780[2]
William Bradford Jr.	August 20, 1791[2]
Thomas Smith	January 3, 1794[2]
Hugh Henry Brackenridge	December 18, 1800[2]
John Tod	May 25, 1827[2]
Frederick Smith	January 31, 1828[2]		1830 (died)
John Ross	April 9, 1830[2]
Thomas Burnside	January 2, 1845[2]
Richard Coulter	September 17, 1846[2]
George Chambers	April 10, 1851[2]
John C. Knox	May 23, 1853[2]
James Armstrong	April 6, 1857[2]
William Strong	December 7, 1857[2]
S. Leslie Mestrezat	January 1, 1900[2]
William B. Linn	February 23, 1932[2]
Bayard L. Buckley	November 25, 1937
Marion D. Patterson	January 2, 1940[2]
Allen M. Stearne	December 24, 1942[2]
Michael A. Musmanno	January 7, 1952[2]
Herbert B. Cohen	January 7, 1957[2]
Curtis Bok	January 1, 1959[2]
Anne X. Alpern	September 6, 1961[2]	Appointed by David L. Lawrence
Thomas W. Pomeroy Jr.	December 30, 1968[2]
Louis L. Manderino	January 3, 1972[2]
Rolf Larsen	January 5, 1978[2]		1994 (impeached and removed from office)
William D. Hutchinson	January 4, 1982[2]
James T. McDermott	January 4, 1982[2]
Stephen Zappala Sr.	January 3, 1983[2]
Nicholas P. Papadakos	January 2, 1984[2]
Juanita Kidd Stout	February 25, 1988[2]		1989
Russell M. Nigro	January 1, 1996[2]		2005 (defeated for retention)
Cynthia A. Baldwin	February 15, 2006[2]	Appointed by Ed Rendell
James J. Fitzgerald III	March 28, 2007[2]	Appointed by Ed Rendell
Seamus McCaffery	January 7, 2008[2]		October 27, 2014
Jane Cutler Greenspan	July 2, 2008[2]	Appointed by Ed Rendell
Joan Orie Melvin	January 8, 2010[2]	Elected
Correale F. Stevens	July 30, 2013[2]	Appointed by Tom Corbett

References

1. Judicial Biographies, Pennsylvania Appellate Judges, Superior Court. http://www.pabar.org/pdf/lawdirectory/PAAppellateCrtJudicialBios.pdf.
2. "Historical List of Supreme Court Justices". The Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 2018-05-27.