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Who was the first justice of the U.S. Supreme Court?

New York lawyer John Jay (1745–1829) was the first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was appointed by President George Washington (1732–1799) in 1789 and held the position until 1795. (The five associate justices named by Washington were James Wilson, John Rutledge, William Cushing, John Blair, and James Iredell.) Jay brought impressive credentials to the job. In 1778 and 1779 he presided as president over the Continental Congress, the assembly of representatives from the American colonies during the revolutionary period. During the American Revolution (1775–83), Jay was the U.S. minister to Spain. In 1782 he joined statesman and inventor Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) and the American peace commission in Paris, France, in drawing up the treaty that ended the Revolutionary War. After Washington was elected president, Jay acted as secretary...

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