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Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.

Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court

On September 29, 2005, John G. Roberts, Jr. was confirmed as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

BIOGRAPHY

John G. Roberts, Jr., was born in Buffalo, New York, on January 27, 1955.

He grew up in Indiana, where he captained his high school football team and worked summers in a steel mill to help pay his way through college.

In 1976, he received his bachelor's degree from Harvard, summa cum laude , after only three years.

He then attended Harvard Law School, where he was managing editor of the Harvard Law Review and graduated magna cum laude in 1979.

The year after he graduated from law school, Roberts clerked for Justice Henry J. Friendly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

From 1980 to 1981, Chief Justice Roberts clerked for then-Associate Justice William H. Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court.

Chief Justice Roberts then served as Special Assistant to Attorney General William French Smith from 1981 to 1982.

From 1982 until 1986, Chief Justice Roberts served in the White House as Associate Counsel to President Ronald Reagan.

In 1986, Chief Justice Roberts left the White House to enter private practice as an associate at the law firm of Hogan & Hartson. He was elected a partner a year later. His practice focused on appellate litigation and was by all accounts extremely successful.

From 1989 until 1993, Chief Justice Roberts served as Principal Deputy Solicitor General, the second-in-command in the Office of the Solicitor General.

In 1992, when Chief Justice Roberts was 37, President George H.W. Bush nominated hom to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The nomination languished without action by the Senate.

In January 1993, Justice Roberts returned to Hogan & Hartson and resumed his appellate practice.

Including his tenure as a government lawyer, Chief Justice Roberts argued 39 cases before the United States Supreme Court, placing him among the country's most experienced Supreme Court litigators.

Chief Justice Roberts, a member of the D.C. Bar, is also admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. As an attorney, he was widely involved in bar activities:

In May 2001, President George W. Bush nominated Roberts for a seat on the D.C. Circuit. His nomination was favorably reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee by a vote of 16-3. The Senate confirmed his nomination by unanimous consent on May 8, 2003.

On September 29, 2005, then-Judge Roberts was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and, after remarks by President George W. Bush, was sworn-in as the 17th Chief Justice of the United States by Associate Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, in the East Room of the White House.

Chief Justice Roberts lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife, Jane, and their two children, Josie and Jack. Jane Sullivan Roberts is a partner at Shaw Pittman in Washington, D.C. She has a background in technology law and currently heads the firm's professional development program. She has practiced in the private sector as a litigator and transactional lawyer throughout her legal career, including a year in Australia.


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