John Rutledge Lasted Just 138 Days Before Resigning as Chief Justice

John Rutledge is in the record books for a couple of different reasons.

To start, he is the only person to have ever resigned from the Supreme Court TWICE - once, in 1791 (Associate Justice) and again in 1795 as a Chief Justice.

Rutledge's time as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court lasted just 138 days.

Prior to that, Rutledge's time as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court lasted just 1 years and 18 days.

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John Rutledge, who was one of the Founding Fathers, had a very interesting life. Rutledge served as Attorney General of South Carolina, as President of South Carolina and as Governor of South Carolina.

Rutledge was one of the original Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, having been appointed by none other than George Washington.

In 1795, Rutledge would be named as the second Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, again nominated by George Washington.

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Rutledge served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from February 15th, 1790 to March 5th, 1791.

At that point, Rutledge resigned from the Supreme Court of the United States after agreeing to become Chief Justice of the South Carolina Court of Common Pleas and Sessions.

After John Jay resigned as the first Supreme Court justice in 1795, Rutledge was tapped by George Washington to take over the position, where he served for 138 days.

At the time that Jay stepped down, Senate was in recess, so Washington appointed Rutledge as Chief Justice until he could be formally confirmed.

In December of 1795, Senate reconvened and Rutledge was rejected by a vote of 15-10.

Rutledge, having been rejected by the Senate, stepped down on December 28th, 1795, and spent the rest of his life out of the limelight.

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On the opposite end of the spectrum is William O. Douglas, who served as an associate justice for 36 years, 209 days before retiring.

Supreme Court Justices are given lifetime tenure, and only give up their positions in the event of their death, retirement or removal by the Senate.

Filed under: General Knowledge