On September 29, 2005, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. was confirmed by the United States Senate as the 17th chief justice of the United States. At 50 years of age, he became the youngest chief justice since John Marshall took the bench in 1801.
Roberts was born in Buffalo, New York, on January 27, 1955, and shortly after, his family moved to Long Beach, Indiana, where Roberts grew up. When his high school years came, he attended a recently established Roman Catholic boarding school nearby. Captain of his football team and valedictorian of his class, Roberts was already a strong leader and diligent student.
Roberts continued to excel in his education at Harvard University, where he distinguished himself academically and pursued his dream of becoming a history professor, graduating a year early with highest honors. Following graduation, Roberts attended Harvard Law School, where he decided to instead pursue a legal career. His outstanding performance there led him to be chosen as the managing editor of the Harvard Law Review and graduate at the top of his class.
Roberts began clerking for Judge Henry J. Friendly of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and a year later for then Associate Justice William H. Rehnquist of the Supreme Court (the man he eventually replaced as chief justice). When he finished his Supreme Court clerkship in 1981, he was appointed special assistant to the US attorney general by the Reagan administration, and then later as associate counsel to the president.
Roberts served as principal deputy solicitor general from 1989 to 1993 under President George W. Bush and also worked in private practice for many years, arguing 39 cases before the Supreme Court. Roberts was nominated to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by President Bush in January 2003 and was sworn in on June of that year.
He and his wife, Jane, have two children and live in Maryland.
